Posting will be lighter than usual over the next few days as I finish up some research and write an article that I hope will have a big impact.

Permanent link to MTA daily media news

The Note: Inevitability, Now (ABC News)
The latest entry in the (bulging) Obama files: “This is the moment . . . that the world is waiting for,” he told House Democrats Tuesday night, per The Washington Post’s Jonathan Weisman. “I have become a symbol of the possibility of America returning to our best traditions.”… Toss in a jettisoned faux-presidential seal, a canceled visit with troops, maybe a sprinkling of broken promises, and you’ve got enough to weave an uncomfortable yet unforgettable suit.
Rather, Senator Obama, you have MADE yourself into a symbol, one that is not accepted by everyone, even in your party.

Cannonfire

Gallup Daily: Presidential Race Tightens to 4 Points
Voters’ presidential preferences have settled back to 46% for Barack Obama versus 42% for John McCain, after a brief period during which Obama held a larger lead.

GOP’s celeb-Obama message gains traction (Politico)
Barack Obama’s critics laid down the foundations of the strategy months ago: The Republican National Committee started the “Audacity Watch” back in April, and Karl Rove later fueled the attack by describing the first-term Illinois senator as “coolly arrogant.” It wasn’t until the last week, however, that the narrative of Obama as a president-in-waiting – and perhaps getting impatient in that waiting – began reverberating beyond the e-mail inboxes of Washington operatives and journalists. Perhaps one of the clearest indications emerged Tuesday from the world of late-night comedy, when David Letterman offered his “Top Ten Signs Barack Obama is Overconfident.” The examples included Obama proposing to change the name of Oklahoma to “Oklobama,” and measuring his head for Mount Rushmore.

President Obama Continues Hectic Victory Tour (by Dana Milbank, Washington Post)
[On Tuesday] Obama … met with Pakistani Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gillani at the Willard. A full block of F Street was shut down for the prime minister and the would-be president, and some 40 security and motorcade vehicles filled the street. Later, Obama’s aides issued an official-sounding statement, borrowing the language of White House communiques: “I had a productive and wide-ranging discussion. . . . I look forward to working with the democratically elected government of Pakistan.” It had been a long day of acting presidential, but Obama wasn’t done. [He] made his way to the pep rally on the Hill “I think this can be an incredible election,” Obama said later. “I look forward to collaborating with everybody here to win the election.” Win the election? Didn’t he do that already?
Fake it ‘til you make it.  And what did the Pakistani prime minister have to say about the meeting?  See below.

Pakistani PM: No unilateral US attacks
WASHINGTON – After meeting with Democratic presidential contender Barack Obama, Pakistan’s prime minister rebuffed demands for unilateral U.S. action should terrorist leaders be found hiding in Pakistan, an approach Obama has suggested he would approve of as president.

Barack Obama’s Arrogant Campaign Risks a Stunning Loss (by Bonnie Erbe, U.S. News & World Report)
From using a logo resembling a presidential seal at one speech earlier this year (an obvious error and never seen again) to addressing a crowd of 200,000 in Berlin and meeting with heads of state before he has reason to, Obama’s puerile self-absorption may backfire on him and turn off the very voters he needs to turn on: the white working class. His campaign’s use of Cecil B. De Mille speaking backdrops rivals Karl Rove’s brilliant manipulation of wedge issues. But as Steve Kornacki of the New York Observer notes, this, too, has its downsides: “Mr. Obama’s campaign has featured Reagan-like stagecraft… But it never seems to move his polls numbers.”… This race is still the Democrats’ to lose. But by going overboard on unity and turning unity to hubris, they can still easily lose it.

His High Imperial Holiness Obama Does Berlin (by Paul Street at the Black Agenda Report)
The Democratic presidential nominee-to-be wowed them in Berlin – feeding the crowd a steady stream of sugar-coated propaganda on the unfailingly good intentions of America. The U.S. is “generous” to a fault – but that’s the only fault Obama acknowledges.  America “sacrifices” for “freedom,” he says – not mentioning that it’s mostly other people who get sacrificed for the sake of U.S. freedom to rule over them. “People of Berlin – people of the world – this is our moment,” said Obama. Just last year, Obama told the  U.S. Council on Foreign Relations another story: “We must ‘revitalize our military’ to foster ‘peace,’ Obama claimed, echoing Orwell, by adding 65,000 soldiers to the Army and 27,000 to the Marines.”

Leggo My Ego (by Jake Tapper at Political Punch, ABC News)
The Republican National Committee launched another website attacking Sen. Barack Obama, D-Illinois, today, this one poking fun at the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee’s perceived Herculean self-regard. Interestingly, while other Republicans whine about a press corps that is allegedly in the tank for Obama, the RNC’s new website — “Obama Audacity Watch”  — uses myriad press clips from the major networks and other media organizations to prove their point that the lanky Illinoisan who seeks to control the Western World has a big ego.
Oh, you should know that some MyDDer has determined that I am a Republican because I posted a screen capture yesterday from BarackBook.com.  Beware: If you think one thing on a website is funny, you are automatically “promoting” that website AND its sponsor.  Big claim, nothing to back it up.  If I were promoting Republicans and their values, I’d most likely be getting PAID something to do it, instead of starving to death, trying to tell the truth, and to do the right thing.

Why Bush folded on Iran (by Juan Cole, Salon)
Reality, of the military and petroleum-based variety, forced the administration to change course. Now Bush sounds like Obama.
Well, that’s just great, Juan, because Obama is sounding more and more like Bush.

Obama: If sanctions fail, ‘Israel is going to strike Iran.’ (Think Progress)
During a meeting with House Democrats [Tuesday], Sen. Barack Obama reportedly told the caucus: “Nobody said this to me directly but I get the feeling from my talks that if the sanctions don’t work Israel is going to strike Iran.” Rep. Howard Berman (D-CA) asked Obama how he would deal with Iran. “If the Iranians don’t accept a deal now because they think they’re going to get a better deal from the next president, they’re mistaken,” Obama responded. Israel’s defense minister Ehud Barak “has told top U.S. officials that Israel won’t rule out a military strike against Iran.”

Imperialism With a Black Face (by Glen Ford at the Black Agenda Report)
Based on his own statements, delivered repeatedly and consistently over the years, Barack Obama promises to be another in a long line of imperial American presidents, dedicated to the maintenance of U.S. hegemony by any means necessary. “The African American reputation as the most consistently progressive ethnic group in the United States will stand or fall according to how Blacks comport themselves, politically, under a Barack Obama administration.” What will it mean to African Americans when the face of imperialism is their own – when the world comes to hate Obama “as they have other American presidents.”
Click through to listen to this Black Agenda Radio commentary.

Reading the Entrails (by Susie at Suburban Guerrilla)
Like me, Avedon still worries about the outcome of this election. Go read the rest: And here’s the thing: The Republicans don’t like McCain, and they’re not even all that eager to be in the White House when all the crap they’ve sent down the chute hits the fan. So why are the numbers so close? Why did one recent poll even show McCain ahead in likely voters? And why is it that the more Obama tacks to the right, the dicier things seem to get? Could it be that it’s a mistake for the (predicted) Democratic nominee to court the right at the expense of the Democratic base?

New Obama ad: McCain is taking ‘Low Road’ (On Politics, USA Today)
[T]he same day as the McCain team’s full-court press against him, including Celeb — an ad that suggests he’s as equipped for leadership as Britney Spears and Paris Hilton, Obama is back with a hard-hitting response called Low Road.  The ad quotes media and watchdog assessments of recent McCain ads and statements (“false,” “baseless,” and the like). “Same old politics. Same failed policies,” the ad says over a photo of McCain with President Bush. It touts Obama’s plans to help families and solve the energy crisis.
Well, that’s interesting, Senator Obama.  You used false claims embodying the same old politics against Senator Clinton.  It’s okay for you to use these tactics, but not for Republicans?

Prominent Liberal Blogger Says Britney Ad Implies Obama Has a “Taste for Young White Women” (by Jake Tapper at Political Punch, ABC News)
“I note with interest today, John McCain’s new tactic of associating Barack Obama with oversexed and/or promiscuous young white women,” writes liberal blogger Josh Marshall.  “Presumably, a la Harold Ford 2006, this will be one of those strategies that will be a matter of deep dispute during the campaign and later treated as transparent and obvious once the campaign is concluded.” Continues Marshall: “the McCain campaign is now pushing the caricature of Obama as a uppity young black man whose presumptuousness is displayed not only in taking on airs above his station but also in a taste for young white women.”
Josh Marshall has definitely been kidnapped.  I think he’s on an alien space ship, now, and sends brain waves to his earthly avatar to write this stuff.

Dirty Politics Works (by Big Tent Democrat at TalkLeft)
So John McCain is being bashed for his mendacious ad about Obama not visiting the troops because he could not bring cameras. Whoop dee doo. The problem is for three days that ad got run on free media. Dirty politics works and McCain has now shown who will go as far down in the gutter as it takes. And why not? Dirty politics works. The Gallup tracker now has a once 9 point gap Obama held down to 4. Rassmussen has its Obama 7 point gap down to 2. Three guesses how that happened. Keep waiting for the “new” politics and see where it gets you. Here is where Obama has lost his way – not in the positive side of his campaign, that’s worked well. It is in his negative branding, or lack there of. When is the last time you have heard the Obama campaign use the words Bush and McCain together? This ain’t rocket science. If the Obama campaign is not saying “Bush’s third term” half the day, it is not doing its job. That’s politics folks. Wishing won’t make it not so.
And what’s Obama’s high road?  Why, to use the race card again, of course.  See below.

Did Obama Accuse McCain of Running a Racist, Xenophobic Campaign? (by Jake Tapper at Political Punch, ABC News)
“John McCain right now, he’s spending an awful lot of time talking about me,” Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., said [Wednesday] in Rolla, Mo.. “[W]hat they’re saying is, ‘Well, we know we’re not very good but you can’t risk electing Obama. You know, he’s new, he’s… doesn’t look like the other presidents on the currency, you know, he’s got a, he’s got a funny name.’…” Obama made similar comments earlier in the day in Springfield, Mo. Correct me if I’m wrong, but does it not seem as if Obama just said McCain and his campaign — presumably the “they” in this construct — are saying that Obama shouldn’t be elected because he’s a risk because he’s black and has a foreign-sounding name?
Well, why not?  The wholly fabricated charge of racism worked against Hillary.  But the difference is that Obama is no longer running a primary campaign.  He can’t count on as many independents and Republicans to fall into his guilt trap, the way so many Democrats willingly did.

Wanker of the Day: Mark Halperin on Morning Joe (by Nicole Belle at Crooks and Liars)
Let the transcript speak for itself:
“SCARBOROUGH: Is the media turning against him? Is the media going to start seizing on things like this to prove that they’re not in the tank for Barack Obama?
“HALPERIN: There’s been a little bit of the paradigm shift. I think that McCain web video might have had the same effect as the Saturday Night Live parody that…on the Clinton/Obama race. I think some reporters recognize going forward if we replicate the way the coverage has been, the imbalance, the unfair pro-Obama coverage going forward, it would do a disservice in the general election.”

Is Kaine a Smokescreen for Kathleen Sebelius? (by Jeralyn at TalkLeft)
I just spent two hours writing up a theory that came to me at midnight. The gist is that Sen. Barack Obama, by leaking to the mainstream media that Hillary is not on his shortlist while not discouraging talk about Virgina Gov. Tim Kaine, is manipulating a planned succession of leaks. Obama has hit his truth in advertising wall: He’s got to show he’s the progressive candidate for real change because that is how he sold himself to American voters… If his VP choice doesn’t also embody change from politics as usual in Washington, he becomes reduced to spouting just words about change, which in turn gives him an electability problem.

Politics as Comedy (by eriposte at The Left Coaster)
Time for another brief hibernation-interrupt according to [an] article in the NYT by Adam Nagourney … titled: Chance of an Obama-Clinton Ticket Is Seen as Increasingly Unlikely… [T]he article offers some Brilliant arguments from anonymous people in Sen. Obama’s “inner circle” as to why having Sen. Clinton on the ticket is a no-no – so, I couldn’t resist mentioning them… “Mr. Obama’s advisers say that a central message of his campaign — that he would represent a break from the way politics are conducted in Washington — would be tarnished by the simple act of linking himself to the family that has dominated Democratic politics since Bill Clinton won the presidency in 1992.” If Sen. Obama doesn’t want to pick Sen. Clinton as the VP candidate, so be it. But these kinds of comments are not particularly helpful, unless this is part of some secret strategy to feed the PUMAs.

Are These Superdelegates for Sale? (by Alegre)
Lynette Long pulled together the research behind that awesome video (hat-tip to Catfish for posting it yesterday), and she sent me her write-up on all this last night.  This is pretty damning stuff you guys.  Our CongressCritters are selling us out for a fistful of dollars and as far as BHO and his campaign are concerned, it’s politics as usual here in DC.  He keeps talking about change but from what I’ve seen so far, nothing’s changed and if he’s elected – nothing will.
Click through to watch a GeekLove video and for contact information for these superdelegates.

Asking Nicely: A Petition For Obama (by Big Tent Democrat at TalkLeft)
The Nation is organizing a nice letter to Barack Obama asking him to be the progressive they believe him to be.
Comment by kredwyn: Why didn’t they think about this in the first place? Like when he was one of many candidates vying for the nomination? This is like… the horses leaving, someone shut the gate, and put out a sign:
Dear Horses,
Please come home.
Thanks,
Stable

Cheech and Chong to Reunite for Comedy Tour (by Jeralyn at TalkLeft)
Resolving a 25 year inability to just get along, Cheech and Chong, recognizing they aren’t getting any younger, are going to reunite and go on tour with a comedy show, called “Hey, What’s That Smell?”… Cheech Marin: “… ‘I think it’s time for a revival of dope jokes. It’s a much bigger audience now, it’s much more widespread and institutionalized.’”… I hope someone books them for Denver the week of the Convention. The Dems could use some prodding about the need to reform our marijuana laws.
I hope they play Denver during the convention to remind people that masking reality with any kind of drug, including baseless hope, doesn’t make reality go away, it only postpones the reckoning with it.

Polyanna (by lambert at Corrente)
Krugman: “As we all know, the Bush administration essentially brushed aside all notion of due process. It locked up and tortured people it said were ‘enemy combatants’; it engaged in warrantless wiretapping; and so on. We weren’t supposed to worry our pretty little heads about this, because we were supposed to take it as a given that these were people we could trust not to abuse their power. Meanwhile, the Justice Department was interviewing job candidates, and asking, What is it about George W. Bush that makes you want to serve him?’ In other words, there was a combination of power without oversight and a deeply creepy cult of personality … I think we were lucky to get out of this with democracy more or less intact.” Let’s not count our chickens, OK?… We can debate the “more” and “less” of how intact democracy is, in this country. But after this election, what seems obvious to me is that the forces seeking to erode and destroy it are not confined to a single party, but are common to the Village.

Freedom Rider: Obama Pardons Bush (by Margaret Kimberley at the Black Agenda Report)
There will be no need for George Bush to pardon himself and his fellow criminals. Barack Obama promises to let the “W Gang” off, scott-free, when he takes over the White House. Impeachment? Heavens, no! “That is not something I think would be fruitful to pursue because I think that impeachment is something that should be reserved for exceptional circumstances,” says Obama, apparently in the belief that Bush’s behavior has been routine for an American president. Obama surrogates say bipartisanship should decide the question of investigating current and past presidents. In other words, Obama will let the Republicans decide if Bush gets away with murder. “So Bush crimes will be buried by a Democrat.”  

A Ludacris Obama Supporter (by Jake Tapper at Political Punch, ABC News)
No, that’s not a typo. I am of course referring to rap star Ludacris, with whom Sen. Barack Obama, D-Illinois, has worked on AIDS awareness. Obama recently told Rolling Stone magazine that Jay-Z and Ludacris are “great talents and great businessmen”… Ludacris has a new song out, “Politics: Obama is Here.” Some choice lyrics: “…Hillary hated on you, so that b—- is irrelevant / Jesse talking slick and apologizing for what?… McCain don’t belong in ANY chair unless he’s paralyzed / Yeah I said it cause Bush is mentally handicapped…”

Obama spokesman: Ludacris ’should be ashamed’ of lyrics about Clinton, Bush & McCain (On Politics, USA Today)
Barack Obama’s presidential campaign is condemning a new song from rapper (and Obama supporter) Ludacris… “This song is not only outrageously offensive to Sen, Clinton, Reverend Jackson, Senator McCain, and President Bush,” Obama spokesman Bill Burton told USA TODAY’s David Jackson and other reporters in a statement, “it is offensive to all of us who are trying to raise our children with the values we hold dear. While Ludacris is a talented individual he should be ashamed of these lyrics.”
Once upon a time, however, it seemed that Senator Obama was ENCOURAGING misogynistic lyrics.  From back in January: “At Obama Victory Event, Campaign Played Jay-Z’s ‘99 Problems (But A Bitch Ain’t One)’”

Women Count PAC, via email
We need your help today to speak out against an outrageous attack on one of our own. Rapper Ludacris, in a song released today entitled “Politics”, calls Hillary Clinton an “irrelevant bitch” and also attacks President Bush and Sen. McCain. These lyrics are outrageous, offensive, and unacceptable… Remember, WomenCount has launched a “Stop the Silence” campaign calling on voters and Party leaders to speak out against examples of sexism on the campaign trail. Let’s show everyone that we mean it. Here’s what you can do:
Blog now. Hit your favorite blogs in protest. We’ve been doing it all morning.
E-mail now. Send an e-mail … and demand that the song be pulled out of circulation and that Ludacris and his record label issue an apology.
Tell your friends. Forward this e-mail to everyone you know. We promised that we’d jump on these issues. But we need you to take it from here.
Join our movement. Sign up and join our fight.  Get involved in the direction the women’s movement is taking.  Make sure that your voice is heard.
Take these steps, and we’ll keep you informed about the results. But do it now. The best responses are the ones that come quickest.

How You Can Effect Real Change (by SusanUnPC at No Quarter)
I don’t know about you, but I am tired of complaining. I want to work on solutions. From the newsletter of IOwnMyVote.com. Welcome to the Platfom Committee Issue! One of the missions of IOwnMyVote.com is to make sure that the Platform Committee of the Democratic National Convention hears Hillary’s 18 million voters… Take action now! We ask that you take part in our Virtual Platform Committee Meeting. Right now, click on this link and take five minutes to tell us which planks you want in the platform and which ones you don’t. You will be heard.

POC [People of Color] PUMA
The PUMA/Just Say No Deal movement is growing.   We are building a PUMA group that represents people of diverse racial and ethnic heritages — people of color.  Some members of this group will have opportunities to voice their continuing support of Hillary Clinton through a variety of media outlets (TV, blogs, traditional radio and web radio). We welcome you to join our efforts and lend your voice.

Experience called poor predictor of presidential success (McClatchy Newspapers )
WASHINGTON — Many undecided voters have a common concern when they size up Barack Obama: his inexperience. “I have nothing against Obama. I just think John McCain has more experience,” said Steve Viernacki, an Ashley, Pa., restaurant owner. Experts say that such worries are overblown.  “Experience matters, but its importance is terribly overstated,” said historian Robert Dallek, the author of recent books about Presidents Kennedy, Johnson and Nixon. Presidents with sterling resumes often have turned out to be busts, usually because they lacked the key quality a good president needs: sound judgment.
Smoking the Hope Bong, are we, McClatchy?

The Myth of Transcending Race (by Shannon Joyce Prince at the Black Agenda Report)
In the attempt to absolve racists of past and current crimes, words are made to perform supernatural feats. “Transcend” is such a word, promising a cost- and struggle-free existence, once race is “transcended.”  The problem is, “race and racism cannot be transcended, only dealt with.”  Similarly, the term “post-racial” has a magically benign effect on white people, while “the onus of having a post-racial attitude is always placed on the oppressed.” Barack Obama “mislabels those who address racial inequities as the authors of societal divisiveness.” It seems that at some point in the “post-racial” era certain persons “transcended” themselves, causing great divisiveness. Or maybe not.
And the onus of having a post-Hillary attitude is placed on Hillary, Bill, and Hillary’s supporters.  Obama always wants other people to do his work for him.

CNN’s Shallow Look at Black Life (by Mel Reeves at the Black Agenda Report)
CNN went down a predictable path with its “Black in America” special, providing prime time play to “lots of self-flagellating black folks pointing the finger at their lesser-off brothers and sisters.” Barack Obama has given the all-clear to wholesale badmouthing of poor African Americans, who are treated as some kind of clinical problem to be studied and acted upon. “Personal responsibility” is the watchword – for Blacks only. “Yet there is not a peep about personal responsibility among the rich folks who rob us blind on a daily basis.”  The not-ready-for-mainstream-TV truth is, “There is nothing wrong with Black America that large doses of justice, political power and money can’t cure.

Black Gold Spills into McCain’s Coffers (Capital Eye)
Candidates are critiqued all the time for flip-flopping their positions on important issues. But as John McCain recently found out, sometimes reversing course can be lucrative. After announcing in a June 16 speech that he had reversed his stance against offshore drilling and now supports lifting the ban on such oil production, McCain’s contributions from the oil and gas industry hit an all-time high, according to a Washington Post article, citing CRP data for contributions through May.

The Move On Debate (by Big Tent Democrat at TalkLeft)
The Nation’s Chris Hayes’s article on Move On has sparked a healthy debate on what exactly Move On is doing and whether it is effective. John Stauber critiques: “… I criticize MoveOn for what they are not doing, and that is empowering a bottom-up, democratic, progressive movement for fundamental social and political change…” At this point, Move On is perceived as a “crazy Left wing group” because of actions like the General Betray Us ad. And yet they want to be a DC Democratic Party player. This is the worst of both worlds — Move On defines the Far “Left” in the public mind but acts like a conventional middle brow left leaning Democratic partisan advocacy group. They have moved the Overton Window of advocacy – to the Right. In my view, Move On is a textbook example of how not to do online activism.

K Street Reveals Its Money Trail to Capitol Hill (Capital Eye)
Soon there will be more light in Congress’s lobby, as lobbyists file their first-ever reports detailing their campaign contributions to lawmakers. The reports are required by the Honest Leadership and Open Government Act of 2007. Over the weekend, the New York Times took a look at the reports that had been filed so far and found that John McCain had collected more than $181,000 from registered lobbyists. Here at the Center for Responsive Politics, we’re downloading the data that’s becoming available, too, and plan to analyze it in a variety of ways.

House panel votes to hold Karl Rove in contempt. (Think Progress)
The House Judiciary Committee voted 20-14 to hold Karl Rove in contempt of Congress for ignoring subpoenas and refusing to testify. The vote is a recommendation to the rest of the House, but “it is unclear whether Speaker Nancy Pelosi would allow a final vote.” When asked at the Netroots Nation convention if Rove would be put “in that little jail cell that’s in the basement of the House,” Pelosi replied that Judiciary Chairman Rep. John Conyers (D-MI) “had told her, ‘Leave it up to me.’”
But will Conyers follow through?  They’ve built us up to knock us down so many times before, the I don’t believe them any more.

2005 White House hiring directive: ‘Place as many of our Bush loyalists as possible.’ (Think Progress)
The New York Times’ Charlie Savage highlights a “little-noticed” email revealed in the new Justice Department report about the department’s politicized and illegal hiring practices. A May 17, 2005 directive from the White House political affairs office said: “We simply want to place as many of our Bush loyalists as possible.” The email urged agency officials to find jobs for 108 people on a list of “priority candidates” who had “loyally served the president.” Savage explains that, while presidents of both parties have engaged in political patronage, “the Bush administration had gone further than any predecessor.”
Apparently, however, AG Alberto Gonzales didn’t read the directives from the White House.  See below.

DOJ IG: Gonzales ‘said he wasn’t aware of what was going on’ in his agency. (Think Progress)
During [Wednesday’s] hearing on the politicization of the Justice Department, Inspector General Glenn Fine described how young and inexperienced staffers like Monica Goodling were able to implement radical changes in department procedure “unchecked, without adequate supervision, without adequate oversight” that “resulted in very serious damage in the Department of Justice.” Later, Fine said that when he asked former Attorney General Alberto Gonzales about Goodling’s actions, Gonzales professed to being completely clueless.
Click through to watch the video.

DOJ IG: We found ‘no sufficient basis for criminal prosecutions’ against Goodling or Sampson. (Think Progress)
Testifying before the Senate Judiciary Committee today on his latest report on the politicization of the Department of Justice, DOJ Inspector General Glenn Fine said he “did not think there was a sufficient basis for criminal prosecutions for false statements for anyone” involved… Later in the hearing, when Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) asked whether Monica Goodling, Kyle Sampson, and others responsible got away with their misconduct “scott free,” Fine noted that there are still “potential bar issues for the attorneys who have committed misconduct.” “So I don’t believe they have gotten away with it,” he said.
But is anyone pursuing these issues with the Bar Association?  Click through to watch the video.

Bush operative set up Congressional computer system (by DCblogger at Corrente)
Behind the firewall: Bush loyalist Mike Connell controls Congressional secrets as his email sites serve Karl Rove “In 2001, Michael L. Connell of GovTech Solutions, L.L.C., a notoriously partisan GOP operative and Bush family confidant, was selected to re-organize the Capitol Hill IT network. Under the guise of selecting a female-owned IT company (Connell’s wife Heather is listed as the owner), former Congressman and convicted felon Bob Ney reportedly arranged for Connell to be the man behind the firewall for the U.S. House of Representatives. Connell’s role and activities need to be investigated by putting Connell under oath and examining how arguably one of the country’s most zealously partisan IT specialists managed to land the contract and be allowed access to this electronic communication system.” I can’t believe Gephardt and Daschle just sat there and let that happen.

Media Matters for America headlines

• Hannity falsely claimed Obama “abandon[ed] the troop visit because the cameras weren’t … allowed”

• Tracking a smear: Obama “snubbed” wounded soldiers because there were no media or “cameras”

• AP ignored McCain’s shifting time frame for balancing budget, economists’ reported skepticism of his plan to do so

• IBD repeated falsehood that Obama bill would levy “Global Tax” on U.S. taxpayers

• Savage still claiming autism comments taken out of context, despite his prior reference to “a phony disease”

• Fox News’ Jarrett failed to challenge Energy Secretary’s false claim that no “oil or gas [was] spilled” during Katrina, Rita

• In covering forthcoming anti-Obama books, will media repeat Swift Boat coverage mistakes?

• Mike Gallagher pronounced Obamas “socialists,” apparently because daughters get presents from Santa, not them

• Harwood calls McCain’s willingness to consider raising Social Security taxes — contradicting “no new taxes” pledge — “candor” and “truth-telling”

• CBS, NBC evening news broadcasts ignored IG report finding illegal actions in Justice Department hiring practices; ABC devoted less than 30 seconds

Big Media Steals 5,100 Digital TV Channels (by Glen Ford at the Black Agenda Report)
Corporate media and their accomplices at the FCC may have pulled off the biggest public rip-off since “Congress conspired to grant millions of acres to the railroad barons.” Valued at $80 billion, the 5,000-plus new channels are to become the quasi-property of the same corporations that already hold the licenses for all of American television. The public has been provided no chance to influence the disposition of the digital treasure trove, a resource made possible by science, not station owners. Big Media “used their political and economic power to take possession of digital channels they have done absolutely nothing to earn.”

Media shield measure stalls in the Senate
WASHINGTON – A bill to protect journalists from having to reveal their sources in some federal courts stalled in the Senate on Wednesday, the latest victim of a partisan fight over what to do about gas prices.

In College New Media Programs, Who Benefits? (Inside Higher Education)
Now that many journalism schools across the country are offering concentrations in interactive journalism, some are asking: What are the key new media skills needed today? Are journalism schools staffed to provide the training? Does training on the latest technology make any sense when the tools and industry are changing so fast that today’s “cutting edge” may be tomorrow’s electronic typewriter?

Teaching a New Generation of Reporters to Capture Events on Film
The New York Film Academy’s new digital-journalism program — launched in partnership with NBC News — is a response to a sea change in how the public consumes news. “What this business needs in general are more young people who need to be great journalists, but who also need to know all the technology to be more nimble and resourceful,” says Lyne Pitts, NBC News’s vice president of strategic initiatives.

Volunteer Bloggers Need to Stop Subsidizing the Internet (by Shiela McClear at Gawker)
It’s easy and idealistic to say, but seriously: stop writing for free. This means you, if you’re one of the many Huffington Post bloggers who don’t get paid. People working for free (or for depressed wages) drive down the pay for bloggers who do get paid for their work. Remember, free-bloggers: someone is making money off your work and your content. It just isn’t you.

How Walcott And The Knight Ridder Reporters Went About Their Work (Nieman Watchdog)
John Walcott is the winner of the first I.F. Stone Medal for Journalistic Independence. He and his reporters did not fall for the deceit pushed by those high in the Bush administration.

NYT to release Times Extra version of home page this year
The page will include links to other news sites and blogs alongside the articles that the Times publishes. “The idea is to give our readers as complete a picture as possible of the coverage around the Web on the stories our editors think are important,” says Times chief technology officer/digital operations Marc Frons. “Readers uninterested in that aggregation of content will still be able to use our regular home page.”

Even As Local Online Ad Spend Surges, Newspapers Can’t Win (Paid Content)
In the daily drumbeat of bad news for newspapers, the growth of online advertising would seem to offer some solace to the beleaguered industry. But as a WSJ piece tells it, they still can’t make a go of it. After some promise two years ago, stats from local media researcher Borrell Associates show that newspapers’ share of the local online market is now 27.4 percent, down from 35.9 percent in 2006, even as the total segment has seen 57.2 percent gains last year.
Click through to read an analysis of the reasons why this is happening.

Milestone: Yahoo Drives 100 Million-Plus Visits to Newspapers
Yahoo has driven more than 100 million visits to its newspaper partners, the consortium announced today. Under the content-distribution portion of the alliance, more than 775 newspapers provide news headlines to Yahoo for placement across the Internet giant’s many channels like Yahoo Sports and Yahoo Finance. The links take readers directly to the newspaper site.

Unconventional Wisdom?: Newspapers Should Close Their Web Sites (by Ted Rall, Maui Time Weekly)
If publishers take three audacious but absolutely essential steps, the print newspaper industry can save itself. All three of my suggestions are predicated on the simplest principle of capitalism: scarcity increases demand. First: newspapers should go offline. Second, copyright every article in the newspaper. Step three: cut off the wire services.

Fortune Denies NYP Report That AmEx Has Final Say Over FSB Copy
A spokesperson for the Fortune Money Group has denied Keith Kelly’s report that American Express will get final say over the editorial content of Fortune Small Business, saying “Time Inc. has complete editorial control over all of its 120 magazines and 40 websites.” The spokesperson also pointed out that Kelly erred in labeling Dan Goodgame “a 10-year veteran of Time Inc.”

Viacom Facing Soft Ad Sales
The hot phase of entertainment earnings season kicked off Tuesday with more signs of a U.S. advertising recession. Viacom Inc. has been hit by an “increasingly challenging” economy that hurt its ad sales in the second quarter more than feared, president and CEO Philippe Dauman said, adding that scatter market sales remain soft in the current third quarter.

Hollywood Tries To Import Success for TV
In a year filled with stateside labor strife and ratings woes, Hollywood is actively looking overseas for success. Six of the 19 scripted series slated to debut on the four broadcast television networks this season have been adapted from international formats. With a slew of formatted pilots still in development, that count is expected to grow.

ESPN Plans Online Network Dedicated to ‘Action Sports’
ESPN, looking beyond the middle-aged male sports fan, will unveil a new digital strategy Wednesday aimed at the skater crowd. The move seeks to establish online what the Walt Disney Co.-owned cable channel did more than a decade ago in television when it created the X Games, a twice-yearly competition of assorted nonteam, untraditional sports events catering to extreme sports enthusiasts.

Penguin story moves from the web to “NBC Nightly News”
The piece about a baby penguin raised by a zoo worker was created originally for the Internet, but ended up on “NBC Nightly News.” NBCer Tim Peek notes: “As such, it was one of those small events that may well mark a watershed toward a truly cross-platform world, with professionally produced content playing wherever the audience wants to see it and breaking down the wall of ‘TV network’ vs. ‘online.’”

Female Bloggers Upset With Times Story
The feminist blogosphere erupted this week in a brief but intense conflagration over a New York Times story about BlogHer, the annual conference for female bloggers held this year in San Francisco. According to some ticked critics of the Times, a lack of respect for female bloggers was etched into the piece itself.

Conde Nast Femme-Blogs Languish in Cyberspace
As magazine publishers continue to try and refine their confused, semi-committed approach to the Internet, Conde’s little-known sites are a company trial of sorts, a slick repackaging of “girl”-illa blogs edited by Susan Kaplow, previously a director of development at the teen-marketing site alloy.com.

Scrabulous Returns By Another Name, Will ‘Wordscraper’ Evade Hasbro? (Paid Content)
How many points do you get for the word “COMEBACK”? Just two days after Scrabble maker Hasbro succeeded in using the DCMA to take Facebook’s Scrabulous app offline, creators Jayant Agarwalla and Rajat Agarwalla have rebirthed the app as “Wordscraper”. Not that this is Scrabble, mind you; oh no, this time the tiles are circles, not squares. The new board also has some other features, too (ie. multi-point tiles are in a different pattern). The changes ensure son-of-Scrabulous retains the basic rules of the Scrabble game, but not the look, the feel or the name. Some users reported their Scrabulous games had not been carried over, however.

Internet Addiction Growing (Medill Reports)
The Internet is where we spend more and more of our time. But for a growing number of people, it’s an out-of-control habit instead of a necessary part of life. Internet addiction — an online-related compulsive behavior — is a psychological and behavioral problem that is spreading around the world, experts say.

Ad Slowdown Crushes Some, Leaves Others Unscathed. What Gives? (Silicon Alley Insider)
It’s been a dismal year for ad-supported businesses, but not everyone is getting hurt. Those worst off are (a) exposed primarily to the U.S. ad market, and (b) have the most print and TV in their portfolios. Who’s not getting hurt? Those heavily weighted in growing, international regions. And industries benefiting from the shift of dollars away from traditional media — such as digital, search, marketing services, and PR.

OPA Study Tries To Make The Case For Content Sites As Brand Drivers (Paid Content)
When asked why major marketers’ ad dollars don’t follow the vast migration of consumers to the web, the general answer is that online isn’t as powerful a branding medium as TV. A study of the internet’s ad effectiveness prepared by the Online Publishers Association aims to challenge that view somewhat. The study’s ambitions aren’t meant to dent traditional; instead it’s taking on the easier challenge of making the case for branded content sites versus portals and remnant ad networks.

Ted Stevens Goes Down the Tubes
In honor of Sen. Ted Stevens’ indictment on federal corruption charges, we offer a tribute to the man who once famously declared that the Internet is “not a truck, it’s a series of tubes.”… His expertise will be sorely missed, though if it’s any consolation, Stevens should remember that a prison is really just a series of bars.

Ted Stevens: Series of Tubes (video, from Daniel Kurtzman, About.com)

Iraqi, U.S. forces meet no resistance in Diyala operation
BAGHDAD — Iraqi infantry, supported by artillery, the Iraqi air force and U.S. forces, on Tuesday began what was described as a major operation in Diyala province, northeast of Baghdad. Iraqi forces said they’d encountered no resistance to the crackdown, which the army had announced six days earlier.

Iraqi parliament calls session on Kirkuk
BAGHDAD – Iraq’s parliament went into summer recess Wednesday without resolving key disputes holding up this year’s provincial elections, forcing the speaker to announce a special session to discuss a power-sharing formula for the oil-rich city of Kirkuk.

US: Iraqi fighters extort, kidnap to raise funds
WASHINGTON – Al-Qaida in Iraq is increasingly embracing extortion and kidnapping to finance its operations as cash carried in by its dwindling foreign fighter network is drying up, according to U.S. intelligence and documents captured in Iraq.

Iraq’s rebuilding planned at nearly $120 billion
WASHINGTON – Iraq’s coffers are bulging with oil money, yet some Baghdad residents go without electricity for much of the day and others get drinking water tainted with sewage.

Iraqis thrilled over lifting of Olympic ban
BAGHDAD – Iraqis were relieved Wednesday after the International Olympic Committee revoked a ban on their country’s participation in the Olympics, allowing four of the original seven athletes to compete in Beijing.

Turkish ruling party narrowly avoids ban
ISTANBUL, Turkey – Turkey’s top court on Wednesday narrowly decided against banning the ruling party over accusations that it was steering the country toward Islamic rule, preserving a government locked in a power struggle with the secular elite.

Afghanistan surpasses Iraq as deadliest spot for U.S. troops
BAGHDAD — Nearly twice as many U.S. troops have been killed in Afghanistan than in Iraq so far this month, marking the lowest death toll of any month since the U.S. invaded Iraq and putting July on course to be the first month in which the American military suffered more casualties in Afghanistan than in Iraq.

Report: Troop shortages in Afghanistan linked to Taliban comeback. (Think Progress)
According to statistics provided in a new report from the United States Institute of Peace, the use of air power in Afghanistan by U.S. and NATO allies has increased from 5,000 pounds of munitions per month in 2005 to 168,000 pounds in December, 2007. The result is that “civilian casualties increased by 62 [percent] in 2008, compared to figures from the first six months of 2007.” The report says the increase in air power is a result of a shortage of troops and suggests that the resulting increase in casualties is “a key reason for the Taliban comeback”.

Is Afghanistan a Narco-State?
An unlikely coalition of corrupt Afghan officials, timorous Europeans, blinkered Pentagon officers and the Taliban has made poppy cultivation stubbornly resistant to eradication.  

Pakistani leader reproaches Bush for missile strike
WASHINGTON — A U.S. missile strike that’s believed to have killed a senior al Qaida operative in Pakistan’s tribal area roiled talks Monday between President Bush and Pakistani Prime Minister Sayed Yousaf Gilani, who reproached Bush for acting unilaterally and failing to share intelligence with Pakistani authorities.

India reports shooting on Kashmir frontier
SRINAGAR, India – Pakistani soldiers violated the cease-fire in Kashmir on Wednesday, shooting across the heavily fortified frontier in the Himalayan region for the second time in three days, the Indian army said.

Ten unexploded bombs found in western Indian city
AHMEDABAD, India (Reuters) – Police found ten unexploded bombs in the western Indian city of Surat, one of the world’s biggest diamond-polishing centers, on Tuesday, three days after a series of bombs in the same state killed 45 people.

Election win fuels fears for Cambodian democracy
PHNOM PENH, Cambodia – The landslide election victory of Cambodia’s ruling party puts the country under one party-rule and risks damaging its fragile democracy, rights groups said Wednesday.

UN: NKorea facing worst food crisis since 1990s
BEIJING – Flooding and poor harvests have caused North Korea’s worst food crisis since the late 1990s and have put millions at risk, the United Nations’ food agency said Wednesday.

Aborigines win landmark ruling on control of coast
DARWIN, Australia – Aborigines won traditional ownership rights over a large stretch of coastline in northern Australia on Wednesday, in a landmark ruling lawyers said could set a precedent in other parts of the country.

Canada says on track for budget surplus this year
OTTAWA (Reuters) – Although Canada is still on track to record a budget surplus this year, the government has no plans for big spending projects or major tax cuts in the near future, Finance Minister Jim Flaherty said on Wednesday.

Mexicans vote ‘no’ on oil reform
MEXICO CITY – Mexico City residents voted against the president’s proposal to give private companies a bigger role in the country’s state-run oil industry, according to results of a nonbinding referendum released Monday.

Venezuela rejects raising OPEC output
CARACAS, Venezuela – Oil Minister Rafael Ramirez is rejecting an increase in OPEC production quotas.

Vatican lets Paraguayan leader quit as bishop
ASUNCION, Paraguay – Paraguay’s president-elect has received unprecedented permission from the pope to resign as bishop, the papal nuncio said Wednesday, ending a dispute over Fernando Lugo’s priestly status.

German court partially overturns smoking ban
BERLIN – Germany’s highest court partially overturned bans on smoking in bars Wednesday, ruling that states must either ban smoking in all restaurants and pubs or offer exceptions for single-room establishments.

Walesa blames Soviet system for 1970 deaths
WARSAW, Poland – Testifying at the trial of Poland’s last Communist leader, Former Polish President Lech Walesa suggested Wednesday that the Soviet system was responsible for the killing of protesting shipyard workers in 1970, rather than individuals.

Ex-Bosnian Serb leader in UN custody in The Hague
THE HAGUE, Netherlands – Former Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic sat in a U.N. jail cell Wednesday after being flown to the Netherlands in the dead of night to face charges of genocide against Muslims and Croats during the Balkan wars of the 1990s.

Zimbabwe talks to resume Sunday: Mbeki
HARARE (AFP) – Power-sharing talks between Zimbabwe’s ruling ZANU-PF and opposition MDC are set to resume Sunday, South African President Thabo Mbeki said after meeting President Robert Mugabe here Wednesday.

Zimbabwe issuing new bank notes to revalue currency
HARARE (AFP) – Zimbabwe will issue new bank notes from August 1 that will knock 10 zeros off the dollar and revalue a 10 billion dollar note to equal one zimdollar, the Central Bank governor said on Wednesday.

UN ends Eritrea-Ethiopia peacekeeping mission
UNITED NATIONS – The United Nations Security Council voted Wednesday to end its 8-year-long peacekeeping mission between Eritrea and Ethiopia, a failure the U.N. chief has warned could lead to a new war between the Horn of Africa neighbors.

US warns travelers to East Africa of terror risk
KAMPALA, Uganda – The U.S. Embassy in Uganda says Americans in East Africa may be at an increased risk of attack from terrorists as the 10th anniversary of a double bombing approaches.

U.S. Headed for ‘Heightened Alert’ Stage
Government officials have been quietly stepping up counterterror efforts out of a growing concern that al Qaeda or similar organizations might try to capitalize on the spate of extremely high-profile events in the coming months, sources tell ABC News.
I thought they’d wait until closer to the election to start the scarifying, but maybe they have something even more dramatic planned for October.  I don’t know what—finding Osama bin Laden in a spider hole and calling him Obama “by mistake”?

Bush forced Maliki to back down on withdrawal in 2006. (Think Progress)
Earlier this month, Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki announced that he was in “negotiations” for “a timetable” for the withdrawal of U.S. forces from Iraq. The Bush administration initially scoffed at Maliki’s statement, but a little over a week ago, the White House embraced a “general time horizon” for the reduction of U.S. troops. Gareth Porter reports today that this is not the first time Bush and Maliki have clashed over timelines. In fact, soon after Maliki took office in 2006, Bush quashed an Iraqi proposal for a withdrawal timetable.

US-produced Al-Qaida movie played at Gitmo trial
GUANTANAMO BAY NAVAL BASE, Cuba – A Pentagon-produced movie about al-Qaida had its premiere Monday at the first Guantanamo war crimes trial — shown to an audience of military jurors hearing evidence against a former driver for Osama bin Laden.

Bush approves execution of soldier, first in 50 years
WASHINGTON — President Bush on Monday approved the execution of an Army soldier who terrorized Fayetteville, N.C., for months in the late 1980s and was eventually convicted of raping and killing four women, and raping and attempting to kill another.

Local military bases seek civilian police
Over the next four years, Marine Corps Air Station Beaufort and Marine Corps Recruit Depot Parris Island will hire more than 80 civilian police officers as the Corps continues to look for ways to free up active-duty Marines to serve in combat.

Blackwater received millions in small business contracts — but it’s not a small business. (Think Progress)
An audit by the Inspector General of the Small Business Administration found that private security firm Blackwater “obtained dozens of small business contracts worth more than $110 million even though” the company “may have exceeded size limits for a small business”… The report said that Blackwater “may have improperly classified Blackwater guards in Iraq and Afghanistan as independent contractors rather than employees.” It’s a tactic other private contractors have used to avoid paying taxes.

Businesses owe $58 billion in tax withholdings
WASHINGTON – Congressional investigators say businesses have failed to pay the IRS some $58 billion over the past decade in taxes they were supposed to have withheld from their employees’ paychecks and forwarded to the government.

Bush signs housing bill in private
White House: President Bush signs H.R. 3221, the Housing and Economic Recovery Act of 2008.

HUD: Homeless population declining
WASHINGTON – The number of homeless in the United States decreased about 12 percent between 2005 and 2007, with an even larger decline in the number of people who are chronically homeless, the government reported Tuesday.
No way do I believe this report.  It goes against everything else I’ve been reading for more than five years.  Maybe they just changed the definition of homeless to be “not within 10 miles of a highway overpass to sleep under.”

Justice finds that Gonzales aides broke federal hiring laws
WASHINGTON — Top aides to former Attorney General Alberto Gonzales violated federal laws and Justice Department policies by selecting employees based on their conservative and Republican leanings, a joint report by two department watchdog agencies concluded Monday.

EPA tells its staff: Don’t answer watchdogs’ queries
WASHINGTON — The Environmental Protection Agency has told its staff not to answer questions from the agency’s internal watchdog, news reporters or the nonpartisan investigative arm of Congress, according an internal memo that an environmental group released Monday.

Sugar company CEO says OSHA ignores dust hazards
WASHINGTON – The head of a sugar company blamed for a Georgia refinery explosion that killed 13 workers in February sought to shift fault back to the government Monday by calling federal guidance on industrial dust accidents “woefully inadequate.”

Probe: Fed employees may have bought fake degrees
WASHINGTON – Immigration officials are looking through a list of more than 9,000 names to see how many federal employees may have bought a phony high school or college degree from a Spokane, Wash.-based diploma mill.

GOP blocks action on tax, renewable energy package
WASHINGTON – For the fourth time this summer Republicans stopped the Senate from taking up wide-ranging legislation that extends tax breaks for teachers, businesses and parents and provides tax credits to an array of renewable energy entrepreneurs.

Lawmakers agree on consumer product safety act
WASHINGTON – House and Senate lawmakers reached agreement Monday on legislation to ensure that children’s toys are not contaminated with lead and phthalates, require mandatory testing of children’s products and increase funding for the Consumer Product Safety Commission.

Senate Democrats call for EPA chief to resign
WASHINGTON – Four Democratic senators called Tuesday for Stephen Johnson to resign as administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency and asked Attorney General Michael Mukasey to begin an investigation into whether he lied in testimony to a Senate committee.

Alaska’s Ted Stevens charged with failing to disclose gifts
WASHINGTON — Sen. Ted Stevens, the longest-serving Republican in the U.S. Senate and one of the chamber’s most powerful members, was indicted Tuesday in Washington for failing to disclose more than $250,000 worth of gifts that he received from businessmen who were seeking his help on federal issues and projects.

Stevens Gives Statement, Steps Down From Leadership Posts
Per Senate Republican rules for indicted officials, Sen. Ted Stevens, R-Alaska, has stepped down from his leadership positions as top Republican on the Senate Commerce Committee and as top Republican on the Appropriations Committee’s defense appropriations subcommittee.

House panel votes to cite Rove for contempt
WASHINGTON – A House panel Wednesday voted to cite former top White House aide Karl Rove for contempt of Congress for defying a subpoena to answer questions about the dismissals of several federal prosecutors as its Senate counterpart explored punishments for an array of alleged Bush administration misdeeds.

Bring Me The Head Of Alberto Gonzales (Radar Online)
Looks like former Attorney General Alberto Gonzales might get tagged with a perjury charge by Congress. Aides at the House Judiciary Committee are said to be examining an apparent discrepancy between Gonzales’s statements in the new inspector general report we noted on Monday and testimony he’d previously given to the committee. Specifically at issue is an order giving Bush political minions Kyle Sampson and Monica Goodling hire-and-fire power at the Department of Justice.

Mixed ruling on controversial Florida gun law
TALLAHASSEE, Florida (Reuters) – Florida employers cannot bar their employees from keeping guns locked in their cars at work but businesses can stop customers from keeping firearms in cars while shopping, a U.S. judge has ruled.

Schwarzenegger to sign pay cut order on Thursday
California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger now plans to sign an executive order Thursday to reduce pay for about 200,000 state workers to the federal minimum wage and lay off 22,000 temporary workers and retired annuitants until the state has a budget, according to his office.

Massachusetts Closer To Striking 1913 Marriage Law (American Constitution Society)
Massachusetts lawmakers are close to banishing a 1913 law prohibiting the recognition of same-sex marriages. The Massachusetts House voted 118 to 35 today to repeal the 1913 law. Earlier this month state senators approved a bill to repeal the law. The measure now heads to Gov. Deval Patrick, who, according to the Boston Globe, is expected to sign it. The repeal will allow out-of-state couples to marry in Massachusetts, which has recognized same-sex marriages since 2004.

New skirmish over gay marriage amendment in California
Proponents of a ballot measure to ban same-sex marriages in California plan to appear in court today to challenge state Attorney General Jerry Brown’s rewording of the measure’s ballot summary.

Stocks pare gains as oil prices step up advance
NEW YORK – Stocks gave up their biggest gains but still mostly advanced Wednesday after an upbeat employment report from payroll company ADP made investors cautiously optimistic about the government’s upcoming July employment report. A downturn in some financial stocks and rising oil prices shaved the market’s gains.

U.S. food portions: Monuments of decadence?
With soaring food prices sparking protests in many countries and more than 800 million people going hungry every day, US food portions are under scrutiny. A lightening of the American plate could ease pressure on worldwide demand, but not everyone is hopeful change will be coming any time soon.

Bennigan’s files for bankruptcy protection
NEW YORK: Restaurant chains Bennigan’s and Steak & Ale have filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy protection and stores owned by its parent company will shut their doors… All restaurants have been struggling as consumers cut back on discretionary spending to better deal with high gas prices, the weak housing market and inflation. The hardest hit have been casual dining chains and bar and grill restaurants, which charge higher prices than fast food and other quick-service chains.
So where’s Chef Gordon Ramsay when you need him?  Let’s put him to work on this problem.  Let’s reduce portions and lower prices in restaurants, keeping them open and leaving food available for the rest of the world, too?

Starbucks closes 61 stores in Australia
SYDNEY, Australia – Starbucks will close more than two-thirds of its 84 stores in Australia by the end of the week under a cost-cutting plan announced Tuesday that will put almost 700 people out of work.

Billion-dollar bankruptcies highest since 2003
NEW YORK (Reuters) – Billion-dollar bankruptcies are at their highest in five years only half way through 2008, according to bankruptcy filing tracker BankruptcyData.com. A total of seven U.S. companies with more than a billion dollars in assets have filed for bankruptcy protection so far this year, it said.

The Immigration Fight Gets Ugly
[C]rackdowns by state and federal authorities are having their intended effect: They have combined with a sputtering economy to drive many immigrants out of the U.S., according to a forthcoming analysis by the Center for Immigration Studies. According to its study of monthly Census Bureau data, the illegal immigrant population has declined “significantly” between last summer and May of this year.

Mexico sees decline in migrant remittances
MEXICO CITY – Half-year figures are expected to show the first sustained decline on record in remittances sent home by Mexicans working abroad, officials said.

Wrecked WTO talks change the world trade game
GENEVA (AFP) – Ministers saw a “new order” take hold in global commerce Wednesday, with emerging economies calling the shots after WTO plans for a new trade pact collapsed in a feared blow for millions of the world’s poor.
Feared by whom, AFP?  Most of us fear the kinds of trade agreements that the WTO has perpetrated on us in the past.

Permanent link to MTA daily media news

BarackBook.com (thanks to NewHampster at Alegre’s Corner)

A list of Obama’s achievements (by John: south of Melrose at Liberal Rapture)
A list of Obama’s achievements
1.

Major DNC Donor to Party Treasurer: Obama is a Bad Investment (by NancyA at No Quarter)
“Andy, if I worked and served the people in the 13th District in Chicago, I would have known all of the players. And to win that district, would I have gamed the system to run unopposed? Tony Rezko would not have had a seat at my table… I would not choose Rev. Wright, Rev. Meeks, or Father Plager as my spiritual mentors, not for political reasons… Would I be hanging out with Mr. Ayers? Would you? Would you refuse to be photographed with Gavin Newsom? There is a pattern with this guy – he manipulates; and for him the ends justify the means. He lacks character.

“Getting not one bill passed in the first 6 years of his career in not inspiring. Having Emil Jones hand him the ball 26 times on the one-yard line in order to make Obama a United States Senator does not cut it either. What deals he made, he did to benefit no one but himself… Every person I have talked to who worked at the Law Review at Harvard with him, or in the latter part of his career, said the same thing: he was arrogant and self-centered… Do you not you find it troublesome that he has hundreds of paid bloggers, posting vicious attacks not only about the Clintons but her supporters as well?…

“Andy, my country comes first, not the Democrat party. Having said that, I believe that the Democratic Party has just kicked away the best candidate and our best chance to redeem our country, Hillary Clinton, a proven centrist. Given his resume, or should I say the lack of one, he is either ineffective or hiding something, neither answer gives me the warm fuzzies. If she is chosen in Denver, you can count on my full and enthusiastic support. Until then, I own my vote.”
How interesting that this person sees EXACTLY what I see in Obama.  Click through for more detail.

Batchelor: PUMAs Rising
John Batchelor, whom RBO/RW readers should recognize from both earlier articles and his Sunday night radio show (RBO posts each week’s program schedule), writes on his blog that on his August 3, 2008, show he will be talking about PUMAs.

The Economy (by Rabble Rouser Reverend Amy at No Quarter)
So, the blaring headline today is that the next president is going to inherit a GAZILLION dollars in debt. Okay, that was not the exact figure. The actual figure is $482 BILLION, which does not include $ for the war. So, once again, here is a video of Jim Cramer, from Mad Money on CNBC, telling Ellen Degeneres who is the BEST candidate for president in terms of dealing with the economy. That candidate is HILLARY CLINTON! OKAY, Superdelegates – REALLY – open your eyes! It is not Amateur Hour here. We already had one of those, and it has been DISASTROUS. [Emphasis added.]  Heck, that guy was way more experienced than the guy the DNC is pushing now!! We simply cannot AFFORD another president who is getting on the job training.
Click through to watch the video.

Tuesday: Acorns (by riverdaughter at The Confluence)
There have been some murmurings on the ACORN front with respect to Barack Obama… [H]ere is an article on the group straight from the NYTimes from a couple of weeks ago…: “… Acorn chose to treat the embezzlement of nearly $1 million eight years ago as an internal matter and did not even notify its board… A whistle-blower forced Acorn to disclose the embezzlement, which involved the brother of the organization’s founder, Wade Rathke… Dale Rathke remained on Acorn’s payroll until a month ago, when disclosure of his theft by foundations and other donors forced the organization to dismiss him.”…

Wade Rathke stepped down as Acorn’s chief organizer on June 2, the same day his brother left, but he remains chief organizer for Acorn International L.L.C. He said the decision to keep the matter secret was not made to protect his brother but because word of the embezzlement would have put a “weapon” into the hands of enemies of Acorn, a liberal group that is a frequent target of conservatives who object to its often strident advocacy on behalf of low- and moderate-income families and workers. [Emphasis added.] Oh, *I* get it.  Stealing from poor people is OK as long as the wingers don’t get hold of the information.  Well, I’m sure that Obama had nothing to do with that when he worked with them before law school. He’s a Schmoozer, not a crook.
Compare and contrast the organization built by the last legitimately elected president of the United States, below.

They Attacked Him As a Racist (by Alegre)
President Clinton’s heading to Africa  and then on to Mexico City for the International AIDS Conference.  He headed out to Ethiopia yesterday and will travel on to Rwanda, Liberia, and Senegal. But before he left, he taped [a] message…  [Click through to watch.] And they attacked this great man as a racist in order to win some primary votes.  I hope they’re proud of themselves. Meanwhile, Bill’s following his amazing wife’s lead in getting to work on something that will save (literally) millions of lives…. And yet his attackers can’t come up with even one legislative accomplishment – one deed that’s saved lives or improved the lives of anyone really – something that they can point to and say THAT is what makes me admire BHO so much.

Correction: Yesterday I said that the only possible reason that the Clintons aren’t campaigning for Obama is that they haven’t been asked.  A reader took exception to that claim, and showed me that Clinton Derangement Syndrome is still alive and well, by stating, “Clearly one other possible explanation is that Hillary is off sulking or busy raising money to pay off debts and just lied about helping Obama.”  I wrote back that I should have said, “The only explanation that makes sense in terms of a realistic assessment of the parties’ past actions and behaviors, rather than hope-bong induced delusions, is that Obama has not asked the Clintons to campaign for him.”
And yes, she is definitely raising money to retire her debt.  Please help if you can.

Dinner With Hillary, $5 bucks (by Jeralyn at TalkLeft )
Sen. Hillary Clinton is having a contest. For a $5.00 contribution to help her retire her campaign debt, you will be entered. The winner gets dinner with Hillary. If you are a Democrat or were a Hillary supporter during the primaries, I hope you’ll help her out.

Obama’s lead narrows another point in Gallup’s ‘tracking’ poll (On Politics, USA Today)
Another poll from Gallup that’s slightly different than others it has released the past two days — but is consistent in the sense that Republican John McCain again gained on his Democratic rival, Barack Obama.

LV vs. RV: The Democrats’ Losing Proposition (by madamab at The Confluence)
Last month, the Democrats had an 11-point edge. (emphasis added)… [D]oesn’t that huge drop in support for Obama … coincide quite interestingly with the formation of a certain group comprised of Democrats who don’t support Obama?… [I]t’s not about the Republicans. It’s about the Democrats and their desire to remake the Democratic Party without the Clintons. Bill and Hillary, what with their success and popularity and intelligence, really must make those liberal elitist Party Leaders feel as weak and inadequate as all get-out. What other reason could there be for this bizarre election strategy?

Christianity is the best image (by Joseph Cannon at Cannonfire)
Cannonfire’s sources at Ma’ariv have made available a copy of Obama’s little-known Wailing Wall “PS” note, reproduced here for the first time.

DNC & Obama campaign confirm plan to spend $20M on mobilizing Hispanic voters (On Politics, USA Today)
In a press release just e-mailed to reporters, the Democratic National Committee confirms it will this morning announce a $20 million joint effort with Barack Obama’s presidential campaign to engage and mobilize Hispanic voters.

Overlooking the baby boomers? (McClatchy)
There are almost 100 million consumers in the United States who are age 50-plus.
And a VERY HIGH percentage of us vote.  And the Obama campaign is studiously avoiding us.

Michelle Obama Should Save Her Breath (Un coup de des at No Quarter)
Barack Obama believes his wife, Michelle Obama, will convince women to vote for her sexist husband.  I quote CBS2 News Chicago: “… [T]he candidate’s wife made it clear she was here to court the new supporters. And she did so by praising her husband’s former opponent. ‘My husband is a better candidate because of her,’ Michelle Obama said. ‘My daughters will look at themselves differently because of her. All of our children, our girls, will believe in the possibility of something bigger because of her.’” Someone please remind Michelle that relegating an eminently qualified woman to the role of supporter of the hopelessly unqualified man will not cajole women voters to support her husband.  Someone also explain to Michelle that women are concerned with women’s rights, not with the manner whereby the Obama daughters perceive themselves. And please remind Michelle that a woman who allows her husband to accompany her to a job interview in order to determine if he approves of her boss is in now way qualified to discuss women’s rights and women’s issues.  

Democratic Party maybe presumes too much – about women (by Robin Lakoff,  professor of linguistics at UC Berkeley and author of “The Language War,” “Talking Power” and “Language and Woman’s Place”)
So many women feel that the election was somehow stolen, and by their own party, to boot. They thus feel much the way many Democrats feel about the 2000 election: bitter… We are disgusted with the party we have long trusted to represent our interests. We are disgusted with ourselves for being snookered – again. We assess the party leaders’ rejection of Clinton as a cynical strategy. If Clinton had ended up as the candidate, the Democrats stood to lose the votes of many African Americans, who then might not vote at all. But if they made Obama the candidate? Well, then (the reasoning seems to have gone), the women always vote, and they will come around. Women always come around, no matter how badly they’re mistreated.
Is Robin Lakoff related to Don’t Think of an Elephant George Lakoff, who is also at Berkeley?

What Happened To The Maxim: “If asked to serve…” (by NancyA at No Quarter)
Obama has been chalking up quite a few out right “nos’ for Vice Presidential nominee. The list just keeps on growing. So far he has been turned down by, Governor Rendell (PA), former Governor of Virginia, Mark Warner like Senator Jim Webb (D-VA) says no to veep, Governor Strickland of Ohio says “if elected, I will not serve.” and finally Senator Jack Reed (D-RI) says he’s not interested in being the running mate of Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama.  Just when we thought there was no one left to say “no”, Former Senator Bill Bradley (D-NJ), Monday, in a conference call with Fox News said “he would not accept accept a vice presidential offer from Obama.

Yes, We Kaine?????? (by LisaB at No Quarter)
[Tuesday came] reports about potential democratic running mates for BO. Until now, a pretty tight cordon has been maintained with only speculation to chew on about who might make a good running mate. Well, now the flood gates have opened and the celestial choirs are tuning up. According to [the] WaPo, Virginia Gov. Timothy Kaine, Senator Evan Bayh (Indiana) and Senator Joe Biden, Jr (Del) are being seriously vetted… But the lead on the story revolves around Governor Kaine, who has leaked the information (or been told to leak).

Kaine for VP, because he has no future, and nobody else wants the job!–or–”Dumb and Dumber”* (by garychapelhill at The Confluence)
Tim Kaine is probably the only politician in the country who has less experience than Obama.  He has been governor for less than 3 years now.  before that he was Attorney General Lt. Governor (his opponent Kilgore was Atty Gen).  He has no major accomplishments under his belt.  He has pandered to the far right again and again.  And he has shown himself to be a complete hypocrite (which should make him feel at home on an Obama ticket). 

Getting Kained by the DNC (by BoGardiner at Corrente)
Kaine has disappointed Virginia progressives. At RaisingKaine, now simply “RK” (which no longer stands for anything), Feld lists in a comment there yesterday: “…a long series of profound disagreements we’ve had with Gov. Kaine over issues ranging from repeal of the estate tax (cost to state: $140 million per year), offshore drilling, the Wise County coal-fired power plant, Dominion Power reregulation, the no-bid/”aerial option” Metro to Dulles project, the transportation monstrosity (with abuser fees and balkanized regional authorities, now declared unconstitutional), his opposition to embryonic stem cell research, etc. etc.”
It’s the same kind of disappointment Obama has been to Illinois progressives.  Yes, there are a lot of similarities between the two men.

Let’s give “Blue Dogs” the boot (by Glenn Greenwald, Salon)
The critical question … is not who will control Congress. The Democrats will. That is a given. The vital question is what they will do with that control — specifically, will they continue to maintain and increase their own power by accommodating the right, or will they be more responsive, accountable and attentive to the political values of their base?… Democratic leaders must learn that they cannot increase their majority in Congress by trampling on the political values of their own base. It’s crucial that they understand that they will not gain seats, but will lose seats, the more they accommodate the right’s agenda. That, in turn, will happen only if progressives target for defeat selected members of the Democratic caucus who are responsible for that right-wing-enabling behavior.

Things I learned today about democracy (by Glenn Greenwald at Unclaimed Territory, Salon)
Here’s what I learned today about democracy and ideology as a result of my debate with Ed Kilgore and having read the comments to the piece I wrote [excerpt above] about targeting Blue Dogs…

An election year is not the time to try to provoke debate about political issues.

The 2006 election wasn’t the time to reform the Democratic Party because taking control of Congress was too important a goal to jeopardize with fixation on issues.

The 2008 election is not the time to reform the Democratic Party because electing Obama is too important a goal to jeopardize with fixation on issues.

The 2010 election won’t be the time to reform the Democratic Party because keeping and expanding the Democratic majority in Congress for Obama will be too important a goal to jeopardize with fixation on issues.

The 2012 election won’t be the time to reform the Democratic Party because re-electing Obama will be too important a goal to jeopardize with fixation on issues.

Come back in 2014 with your Purist Fixation on “Issues” — all this nattering about the Constitution and war and habeas corpus and torture and all of that irritating ideological purist garbage — and maybe then they’ll be some time to worry about all that (though that’s doubtful, since there will be a Really Important Midterm Election in 2014 that will determine who will control Congress for Obama’s last two years in office, and keeping Democratic control of Congress will almost certainly be too important a goal to jeopardize with some purist fixation on issues.)…

The enemies are those who are so audacious and shrill that they want to campaign against those individuals in an effort to bring about a situation where there’s at least one political party in this country opposed to such extremism. Hence: primary challenges are anti-Democratic. Campaigning against incumbents is Stalinist. Opposition to war and torture are the hallmarks of Far Left purists. Blind Party allegiance is the essence of tolerant, shrewd progressivism.

Carrots And Sticks (by Big Tent Democrat at TalkLeft)
Glenn Greenwald and Ed Kilgore debate the virtues of challenging incumbent Democrats [see above], or as Ed puts it, “settling scores.” I think a more basic problem needs to be addressed first, the bizarre penchant of the Netroots to concentrate … its resources working to elect candidates who basically disagree with their view of what the Democratic Party should be… And, as always, these things come back to the head of the Democratic Party, Barack Obama. He can not be treated with kid gloves, as the Netroots and “progressive” activists have decided to do. His behavior on FISA was disgraceful. And he has done nothing to fix the problem. And why should he? Everyone is back on board, holding their tongues about his disgraceful behavior. Kilgore rightly points out that this will be a continuing problem with Obama.

Who Kidnapped Digby? (by myiq2xu at The Confluence, cross-posted at Klownhaus)
If there is a progressive blogger that is universally respected throughout Left Blogistan it is Digby.  I was a regular reader of her work at Hullabaloo back when nobody online even knew her gender.  That’s why I find it sad and disturbing to learn that she has officially drunk the Kool-aid…” [A]ccording to Digby, “presumptuous” and “arrogant” are racial epithets when applied to Obama.  So is pretty much any criticism or ridicule of The Precious according to the “Obama Rules.”  We’ve seen the “Clinton Rules” in use for years (any action or statement by the Clintons, no matter how innocuous, as proof of evil intent)…, but the Obama rules are completely different.  They are the political equivalent of a “get out of jail free” card. That’s because the Obama rules don’t apply to Obama, they apply to everyone else.  Obama is free to make accusations of racism without any proof, even preemptively.  He has already stated that the GOP will run a racist campaign against him.  In fact, pointing out the racist nature of something he or his wife says is racist too. And of course, he gets a complete pass on sexism and misogyny, because pointing it out is . . . well, you know.

NOW THAT’S WHAT WE WERE TALKING ABOUT: (by Bob Somerby at the Daily Howler)
In one way, Bob Herbert is right. But in one way, Bob Herbert is wrong: “HERBERT (7/28/08): I’ll say this about Senator Obama. He sure raises people’s hackles. I’ve never seen anyone so roundly criticized for such grievous offenses as giving excellent speeches and urging people of different backgrounds to take a chance on working together…” Herbert is right in one way; Obama has been “roundly criticized” for some rather unlikely offenses. But Herbert has “never seen anyone so roundly criticized” before? If so, he has moved beyond history. In fact, Democratic White House candidates have been “roundly criticized” for absurd offenses for several cycles now. Herbert may have forgotten this fact because, in the past, he took part in the process. Remember?

Krauthammer Links Obama’s Berlin Speech To Hitler’s Nazi Rallies (Think Progress)
[Monday] night on Fox News’ Special Report, host Brit Hume asked the “All-Star Panel” for “help” in determining whether or not Sen. Barack Obama (D-IL) got “a bounce” in the polls as a result of his recent trip to the Middle East and Europe. Referring to Obama’s Berlin speech that was reportedly in front of more than 200,000 people, neo-conservative columnist Charles Krauthammer said he did not get a bounce because apparently, Americans don’t like it when politicians emulate Adolf Hitler at a Nazi rally.

AFL-CIO sends mailers to members in bid to dispel ‘rumors’ about Obama (On Politics, USA Today)
The AFL-CIO, which has endorsed Democratic presidential contender Barack Obama, said this morning that it is sending mailers to 600,000 of its union members in four key states and that one of the objectives is to dispel “rumors and myths” about Obama.
When are Democrats going to learn the lesson that these kinds of efforts only reinforce the information they don’t want people to believe?

Eggheads? No, bird brains (by Joseph Cannon at Cannonfire)
[The new Obama ad] is SO FUCKING STUPID it should run on every PUMA site, and perhaps on every Republican site. This spot is vacuous, insubstantial, content-free, kitschy, maudlin and just plain idiotic. It talks down to the audience. It makes Obi look like a glib huckster. Did someone on McCain’s team create it?
Click through to watch the video.

Republicans: Obama’s “King of the World” (by David Lightman at Hot off the Trail, McClatchy)
Republicans are trying to parody Barack Obama’s appearance last week in Berlin with a minute-long web video featuring actor-singer David Hasselhoff, a scene from “Titanic” and some comments from random folks. Obama addressed an estimated 200,000 people in Berlin. In the video, At one point, Obama appears to be declaring himself “King of the World,” just as Leonardo DiCaprio did in “Titanic.” And the image of Hasselhoff, who is popular in Germany, appears.

With Commercial, McCain Gets Much More Than His Money’s Worth
John McCain’s campaign has proved adept at making commercials intriguing enough to draw wide coverage from news outlets.

John McCain’s Go-Along, Get-Along Media Strategy (by Dante Chinni at Christian Science Monitor)
The access John McCain has given reporters on the “Straight Talk Express” is manna to many of them. And how many politicians, let alone Republican ones, are comfortable on the set of The Daily Show? But in 2008, does that go-along, get-along media attitude work with bedrock conservatives who simply don’t like or trust the mainstream press?

McCain rep Boot walks over “NewsHour” moderator, guest
“It was one of those rare ‘NewsHour’ moments when you could tell something had gone wrong with this normally polite and even-handed program just by observing the facial expressions of [Barack Obama adviser Lawrence] Korb, in particular, and [moderator Margaret] Warner at the end of it,” writes PBS ombud Michael Getler. A viewer complained to him that Max Boot “was allowed to attack and distort Mr. Obama’s position and then allowed to continue his argument.”

Couric to Lead CBS News’ Convention Coverage
As expected, Katie Couric will lead CBS News’ coverage of the political conventions later this summer. She’ll be joined by Bob Schieffer, chief foreign correspondent and anchor of Face the Nation, and senior political correspondent Jeff Greenfield. CBS plans to have three hours of live primetime coverage for each convention.

COX GETS IT RIGHT: (by Bob Somerby at the Daily Howler)
[Monday] evening, Dan Abrams was in high dudgeon about that new, as-yet unreleased, study of campaign coverage. He was in high dudgeon—and he was wrong, at least in his initial description: “ABRAMS (7/28/08): A new nonpartisan study finds that the press is tougher—that’s right, tougher—on Barack Obama than on John McCain.” In reality, this study doesn’t make any claims about “the press;” it only reviews the three network evening news broadcasts… But let’s leave that distinction to the side; this is, after all, the modern news business, where facts are rarely rendered with care. What makes this study so underwhelming, even before we get to see it? Posting at Swampland, Ana Marie Cox got a basic point right:

“COX (7/28/08): The authors [of the study] admit that ‘most on-air statements during that time could not be classified as positive or negative,’ and that, in fact, found ‘less than two opinion statements per night on the candidates on all three networks combined.’ (I actually think that this apparent LACK of bias should be the real headline of the study.)…” We agree with Cox. If we simply accept this study’s findings, the relative lack of statements of opinion is a large part of this story. But that hardly captures the range of problems with this study.

 “To speak to you would be campaigning,” Matthews tells reporter
Chris Matthews won’t discuss rumors that he wants to run for office. “I have a job to do, and I always tell young people, ‘Do the job that’s in front of you,’” he tells Brett Lieberman. “My job is to cover the most exciting presidential election of my lifetime. …I can’t get involved in a piece that distracts from what I’ve spent more than 20 years getting prepared to do well.”

O’Reilly: Richest 1% would have to finance ‘folks who…smoke reefers 24/7.’ (Think Progress)
[Tuesday], in a Washington Times op-ed, Bill O’Reilly complains that if President Bush’s tax cuts “on those making $250,000 or more” are repealed, “me and other rich folks” would have to finance “folks who dropped out of school, who are too lazy to hold a job, who smoke reefers 24/7.” He adds, “I am part of the 1 percent of Americans that paid an astounding 40 percent of all federal income tax in 2006,” But, as the Wall Street Journal recently noted, “the average tax rate of the wealthiest 1% fell to its lowest level in at least 18 years.”

War Architect Richard Perle Looking To Enter Oil Business In Iraq (Think Progress)
In March 2003, weeks after the invasion of Iraq, war architect Richard Perle resigned from his position on the Defense Policy Board in an attempt to “defuse a controversy over charges he stood to profit from the war in Iraq.” But that hasn’t stopped Perle from continuing to seek profit from the war. Citing documents and people close to the negotiations, the Wall Street Journal reports today that Perle “has been exploring going into the oil business in Iraq and Kazakhstan. One of the oil tracts, near the Kurdish city of Erbil, “is estimated to hold 150 million or more barrels of oil, would potentially be operated by Houston-based Endeavour International”:

Rampant politicization of the Justice Department gets total silence from Fox News. (Think Progress)
Yesterday, the Department of Justice released a report concluding that agency officials “violated both federal law and Department policy” by basing the hiring, firing, and promoting of some Department applicants and officials on politics. Though the report could result in criminal perjury charges against some DOJ officials, Fox News has decided the report is not worth highlighting. The station devoted three sentences to the report yesterday, in the middle of the day; none of the prime-time shows covered the report. Both CNN and MSNBC devoted prime-time coverage to the story.

Indictment Gives Democrats Advantage (Political Wire)
In the immediate aftermath of the indictment of Sen. Ted Stevens (R-AK), and with no major GOP candidate on the Senate ticket other than Stevens, CQ Politics is changing its rating of the race from Leans Republican to Leans Democrat.

Unions Back Plan that Could Kill Off Real Health Care Reform
The AFL-CIO’s and SEIU’s endorsements of single payer appear to be window dressing. They are putting all their energies into “guaranteed affordable choice.” They do it in their own names, and as members of the Herndon Alliance and the Health Care for America Now coalition, which became public July 8. These coalitions criticize single payer as “not politically feasible.” SEIU’s track record is even worse than the AFL-CIO’s. Unlike the federation, SEIU President Andy Stern regularly trashes single payer. “I think we need to find a new system that is not built on the back of the government,” he told the Brookings Institute two years ago. “We are going to build an American system because we are Americans.”

ABC: Without ‘creative White House accounting,’ Bush’s deficit is actually $600 billion. (Think Progress)
Yesterday, the White House “increased its estimate for next year’s deficit to nearly $490 billion, a record figure that will saddle the next president with deepening budget problems in his first year in office.” But, on ABC News’s Good Morning America today, Claire Shipman reported that the deficit is actually much higher because “creative White House accounting” didn’t include the war, the unemployment costs, Medicare fees, or the housing bill in its calculations. If those numbers are included, it brings “the grand total to about $600 billion.”
Click through to watch the video.

Nameless “Experts” Mourn Failure of WTO Round (by Dean Baker)
Experts without names were out in force … expressing their unhappiness over the latest failure to reach an agreement in the Doha Round of the WTO. The NYT told readers that “some Doha skeptics about the necessity of a global agreement. But experts said it was important, particularly as a bulwark against rising protectionist sentiments.”…. It would have been more appropriate to simply present these opinions as the views of the economists/experts who were consulted for this article rather than imply that these views are held by all economists/experts. The article repeatedly warns about governments being pushed by popular sentiments away from the sort of deal that the negotiators were trying to reach. It might have been worth examining why such agreements are so unpopular.

Media Matters for America headlines

• Morning Joe let McCain campaign manager describe attack ad as “the truth,” despite colleague Mitchell’s reporting that it “literally is not true”

• Blitzer ignored facts undermining “tough” McCain attack ad, Castellanos’ reported link to McCain campaign

• Question for KSFO’s Sussman: Did Reagan’s self-description as a “citizen … of the world” make him the Antichrist, too?

• CBS’ Reid didn’t note that experts, including Energy Dept., have rebutted assertion that expanded offshore drilling “will bring prices down”

IOC admits to deal with China on censorship
BEIJING (Reuters) – International Olympic Committee (IOC) officials have cut a deal with China to allow the blocking of sensitive websites from media during the Beijing Games, press chief Kevan Gosper said on Wednesday.

Journalists Face Harassment at Olympics
Journalists are having trouble going about their work in advance of the Beijing Olympics. Several reporters, photographers and TV camera operators have suffered harassment, from both police and citizens. The incidents have heightened concerns that local police and security officials have failed to grasp the freedoms promised by the Chinese Government and the Beijing Organising Committee for the Olympic Games (BOCOG).

Scrabulous No Longer Available For US, Canadian Customers; Other Countries OK (Paid Content)
Hasbro’s lawsuit has shut down the popular Facebook Scrabble application Scrabulous, at least for US and Canada users… Facebook says the decision to block Scrabulous for U.S. and Canadian users was made by the Scrabulous developers, not Facebook. The social net forwarded the DMCA notice to the Calcutta brothers, who took the app down on their end. Facebook spokesperson said that it isn’t taking sides in the Scrabulous-Hasbro dispute.

Lessons from HuffingtonPost.com (by Jonathan Dube at Poynter Online)
The HuffingtonPost.com’s meteoric rise in traffic in the past year has caused a lot of people to take notice. What is it about this blog-based site that has made it so successful?
The site, built on Movable Type blogging software, is a mix of news, blogs and commentary on everything from politics and media to business and the environment. According to Nielsen Online, the site had 4.7 million unique visitors in May, a 255 percent increase from a year earlier, when it had 1.3 million uniques, according to Nielsen Online. And the site has big plans: it is working on launching local editions, starting with Chicago. In an e-mail Q&A, co-founder Arianna Huffington talks about the site’s biggest mistake, lessons media organizations could learn from The Huffington Post, and the future of news.
Click through to read the exchange.

Citizen Journalists Make New Inroads into Political Reporting
Stuck with rising competition from Internet-mediated news, traditional media have been reaching out to web-savvy citizen journalists to expand their online audiences. But only this year have major television networks and their web affiliates begun carving out reporting slots for nonprofessionals on one of their marquee topics: the presidential election.

McGraw-Hill Second Quarter Earnings Fall 23 Pct
McGraw-Hill, a textbook publisher and bond rating company, said that second quarter earnings dropped 23 percent, as revenue at its bond rating business declined.

Newhouse News Service to close after the election
“The decision to close followed the direction of our clients, the editors of our papers,” says Linda Fibich, editor and Washington bureau chief. “They felt they could not afford to pay for a central Washington bureau at a time when they were steering all available resources to local coverage back at home.” The service was founded in 1961.

Roanoke Times editor on why papers should allow comments
Carole Tarrant tells Bob Garfield: “We have a whole generation that’s trained to expect to be able to voice their opinion, not just to read the news but to talk about it or share it, and that may be ugly or it may be really provocative, but I want to hear it. …I really believe if you’re a newspaper online and you don’t allow this, you’re not really online. You’ve got to invest in this and really think about it and not just shut off the pipeline.”

Hartford Courant eliminates reader representative position
Karen Hunter, who has been laid off, writes: “The idea of listening to readers gripe about the newspaper day in and day out still doesn’t sound like a dream job. Nevertheless, between the occasional conversations that deteriorated into name-calling, the past six years of thousands of phone calls and e-mails have been fascinating, largely because The Courant has such devoted readers.”

Retooled LAT Sunday magazine will be profitable, says editor
“For the first time in its history, they’re going to have a magazine that is going to make money,” says Annie Gilbar, editor of the Los Angeles Times’ new monthly Sunday magazine, LA. “When a newspaper is bleeding, and you have something that will lift the newspaper immediately, why not?” She adds that the weekly LAT magazine “had always been produced by the newsroom, not a magazine staff — magazine people do magazines. It takes a very different sensibility to be a magazine editor.”

MinnPost.com expands coverage as more donate to the site
MinnPost.com expands its coverage of politics, arts, business and sports this week by adding several new journalists and features, reports editor Joel Kramer. The former Star Tribune exec writes: “We now have 932 members, people who have decided to support financially the nonprofit journalism that MinnPost.com provides.”

San Diego U-T not likely to be acquired by a public company
Given the current state of the newspaper industry, it’s unlikely that a public company would make a large purchase right now, as they’d have their head handed to them, says former analyst Lauren Rich Fine. Instead, most observers think the most likely San Diego Union-Tribune buyer would be a private company or a group of investors. “But even that’s a long shot considering that the few newspapers on the block aren’t attracting offers,” writes Randy Dotinga.

Oprah, Vogue Among Major Newsstand Losers
The official semi-annual magazine circulation report won’t be out until next month, but thanks to the Audit Bureau of Circulations’ new Rapid Report system, this year we’ll get an early look at how top monthly titles sold in the first half. And the answer is … not well, for the most part.

Online Viewing Leads 20 Percent To Skip Primetime Shows On TV: Report (Paid Content)
At industry events, TV network execs often stress that streamed versions of their broadcast programs are additive and not cannibalistic. But a report from audience tracker Integrated Media Measurement Inc. says that at least half of viewers are using the web not just as fill-in or catch-up, but as a TV replacement

Weak Ad Revenue From Cable Channels Weighs on Viacom
Viacom said that advertising revenue at its cable channels had been lower than expected in the second quarter.

Fox Business Network averages 8,000 viewers in daytime
CNBC, by contrast, is drawing an average of 284,000 viewers during the day. Howard Kurtz notes that the Fox Business numbers are a modest improvement over last fall’s ratings. Fox Business is in 40 million homes, compared with more than 90 million for CNBC.

Pickens rips Yahoo management, sells entire stake
SAN FRANCISCO – Billionaire investor T. Boone Pickens has sold all of his holdings in Yahoo Inc. in a pique over the way the Internet company’s management handled sales talks with Microsoft Corp.

Video search engines help users sort through clips
The Internet is teeming with so much video that searching through it is becoming one of the biggest challenges on the Web.

30+ Solutions to Start Your Own Wiki (Mashable)
Whether you’re setting up an Intranet for your company or a collaborative website for your family, there are a variety of wiki solutions to choose from. We’ve gathered a list of more than 30 of them for those that wish to try their hand at running one themselves or are looking for a fully hosted solution.

Tug of War in Food Marketing to Children
The Federal Trade Commission issued a report detailing the pervasiveness of food marketing to children, and a coalition of food companies responded with its own report arguing they had made progress on the issue.

How TVs Will Get Much, Much Flatter
A paper-thin HDTV that covers a whole wall? Believe it. OLEDs are coming–not quickly, but when they do, LCD and plasma are doomed.

Dell’s Trying Its Hand At Digital Music Players, Again (Paid Content)
Dell is trying its hand at a portable music player again, after failing to gain enough marketshare with earlier versions such as DJ Ditty. The new Dell player could go on sale by September, reports WSJ, and will have integrated software and an online music service. Similer integrated strategies have been tried by others likes Rhapsody, Napster and others, to minuscule effect. Even Dell tried it with MusicMatch, before it was bought by Yahoo, and later it tried with Napster… This time the company says its integration is tighter and seamless: it is working on software for a range of portable PCs that will let users download and organize music and movies from various online sources, the story says. It would connect to online music services via Wi-Fi, and price will likely be less than $100.

Permanent link to MTA daily media news

Artist General Warning

USAT/Gallup: McCain Moves Into National Lead (Political Wire)
Sen. John McCain moved from being behind by 6 points among “likely” voters a month ago to a 4-point lead over Sen. Barack Obama, 49% to 45%, in the latest USA Today/Gallup Poll. The poll was taken over the weekend. McCain still trails among the broader universe of “registered” voters, 44% to 47%. This poll is separate from the Gallup Tracking poll which today shows Obama ahead by 8 points among registered voters, 48% to 40%.

McCain ‘Gallups’ Forward, Obama Slips On His Behind (by Ani at No Quarter)
Not bad for a guy without much of a platform, without much enthusiasm from the conservatives of his own party, and one who really hasn’t even bothered to start campaigning against Obama yet. This is truly shocking since Senator McCain can barely get press coverage, never mind the absolute love-fest the networks festoon upon the newbie Senator from Illinois… I must say, if I were Barack Obama, traveling around Europe with the three biggest news anchors in tow, not having to answer a single hardball question (no offense to your tingle, Chris), having people fawning over me constantly, only to come home and find out my Republican opponent – you know, the one representing the ‘brand’ damaged beyond recognition – had climbed ahead of me in the polls, I would find this very disheartening indeed.
And the Republicans haven’t even gotten started on him.

Where’s the Bounce? (New York Times)
WASHINGTON — It is a question that has hovered over Senator Barack Obama even as he has passed milestone after milestone in his race for the White House: Why is he not doing better?… why — given how sour Americans feel about President Bush and the Republican party, and[W]the perception that Mr. Obama is running a better campaign than Senator John McCain — the senator from Illinois is not scoring even higher in national opinion polls.

When the Tingle becomes a Chill… (by garychapelhill at The Confluence)
I don’t know about Chris Matthews, but a lot of people are starting to feel that tingle become a chill.  Obama just can’t seal the deal.  In fact he is hemmoraging support every day.  Not only did he limp across the finish line of the primaries, he’s slowly losing steam just as the convention approaches… [The reason is that] he has told half of his party to “Get over it”.  His henchmen/women tell us we’re racist and “low class”… [But] CNN has even gone back to blaming Clinton for it: “…Clinton’s relatively minimal public campaign role to date has been noticeable.”
Hillary Clinton made it clear to Senator Obama that she would campaign for him when asked.  President Clinton said the same thing.  The only possible reason they are not visibly campaigning for Obama is that they have not been asked.

Precious Little (by Anglachel)
The deep problem of the Obama campaign, the one that has been there from the start and continues to slowly, steadily bleed away support, is there has never been a presence, only an absence, a “not-Hillary”, the candidate defined by what he isn’t, most crucially in his partisan commitments… As I have asked repeatedly, what is Obama for such that a good life-long liberal like me should give him my vote? I do not need to be convinced that McCain is hideous. He is. Don’t vote for him. But Obama is the incredible shrinking candidate.

Sychophants, Democracy and You (by John: south of Melrose at Liberal Rapture)
The American Media is doing real and lasting damage to the American republic by refusing to report on Senator Obama in a balanced manner and they should be held to account. We have already seen what the overwhelmingly pro Obama and sexist media did to the best candidate during the primaries. The same unwillingness or inability to objectively question and report on Obama in a balanced manner is still occurring… No one is stopping investigations by Time or Newsweek into William Ayres or Rezko or the Alice Palmer affair or a thousand other questionable parts of Obama’s past. It is not being done because the journalists and their bosses don’t want it done.

Please note the foreign press IS investigating Obama. From the London Evening Standard: Barack Obama’s broken promise to African village. This article fits nicely with … Obama’s broken promises to the indigent in his own [state senate] district. Any sane person can see a pattern. Add the broken promises on FISA, public financing, and his backtrack on his own constituents regarding Exelon and nuclear power (Warning: link to Huffington!!!) and many others and what emerges is a self serving dilettante – not the man the media adores. It is testimony to how far the American media has sunk that blogs should be pointing this out – not the New York Times.

No softballs from minority journalists (by Mary Mitchell, Chicago Sun-Times)
If you thought Sen. Barack Obama would have an easy time before an audience of journalists of color Sunday, think again. In his first public appearance since returning from a whirlwind international trip Saturday night, Obama was put on the defensive… Obama was forced to tiptoe around prickly questions about reparations, immigration, and whether he went too far in correcting a lingering misconception among some voters that he is a Muslim…If the interview at the UNITY event is any indication of what lies ahead, it looks like the honeymoon — if there ever was such a thing — is over.
That’s nothing to what the Black Agenda Report has been saying about Obama.

As deficit explodes, Obama, McCain say little about taming it (McClatchy)
WASHINGTON — The federal budget deficit should soar to a record $482 billion in fiscal 2009, the White House said Monday, because of slow economic growth and taxpayer rebates… The numbers mean that the next president will begin his term facing intense pressure to find new revenue or cut spending dramatically… Like Obama, McCain offered no specifics Monday, saying only that “Today’s news makes that job (of balancing the budget) harder, but should not change our resolve to make the tough decisions and the genuine effort to reach across the aisle.”

Obama may have found his VP (by NewHampster at Alegre’s Corner)
An image of this campaign button was mistakenly released today but the Obama machine is trying to convince people that another Senate candidate was to appear on the button.

I personally think that cross party tickets have a huge chance of success this year.  This would sure be a Unity ticket.

Two former Bush Advisers Now Advising Obama, Will Appear at Economic Meeting [Monday] (by Jake Tapper at Political Punch, ABC News)
ABC News has learned that two former administration officials for President George W. Bush [were to] appear with Sen. Barack Obama, D-Illinois, at an economic meeting [Monday], having signed up to be Obama economic advisers. Bush administration veterans former Treasury Secretary Paul O’Neill and former Securities and Exchange Commissioner William Donaldson [were to] join former Federal Reserve Chairman Paul Volcker, and more traditionally Democratic economic advisers such as former Clinton Treasury Secretary Robert Rubin, billionaire liberal Warren Buffett, AFL-CIO President John Sweeney, and SEIU Secretary-Treasurer Anna Burger.
I’m sure Obama thinks he can make points with conservatives with this kind of inclusion, but that just shows his naivete.  As long as there are at least 40 Republican senators, they’ll obstruct any attempts at progressive legislation.  See below.

Senate conservatives vote against cloture on ‘Tomnibus.’ (Think Progress)
Today, in a vote of 52 to 43, conservatives successfully obstructed the Advance America’s Priorities Act, a package of approximately “40 bills that have in many cases been single-handedly stalled by one of the Senate’s more conservative members,” Sen. Tom Coburn (R-OK). The act — dubbed the “Tomnibus” — included provisions for a centralized database to help doctors find a cure for Lou Gehrig ’s Disease and authorized more funds “to be added to the Department of Justice budget for the purpose of investigating and prosecuting outstanding Civil Rights era crimes.”

And they’ll attack Obama on the ridiculous charge that he’s a socialist.
Barack Obama’s Stealth Socialism (Investor’s Business Daily)
Election ‘08: Before friendly audiences, Barack Obama speaks passionately about something called “economic justice.” He uses the term obliquely, though, speaking in code — socialist code… “Economic justice” simply means punishing the successful and redistributing their wealth by government fiat. It’s a euphemism for socialism. In the past, such rhetoric was just that — rhetoric. But Obama’s positioning himself with alarming stealth to put that rhetoric into action on a scale not seen since the birth of the welfare state… Those who care less about looking politically correct than preserving the free-market individualism that’s made this country great have to start calling things by their proper name to avert long-term disaster.

Known Unknowns About Obama (by Richard Cohen, Washington Post, posted at Real Clear Politics)
I know that Barack Obama is a near-perfect political package. I’m still not sure, though, what’s in it.

Obama’s Tabloid Strategy (Political Wire )

Bonnie Fuller — the creator of today’s celebrity journalism — comments on the Obama family being photographed for the cover this week’s People magazine and notes “it’s apparent that Team Obama has a clear and clever presidential marketing strategy: present Michelle and Barack as the beloved Brangelina of the political world.”
Maybe this is to counter the tabloids at the supermarket checkout counters that claim Obama is having an illicit affair and that Michelle is leaving him.

Is Anything Sacred? (The Plank, The New Republic)
Israeli newspaper Ma’ariv was lambasted for printing the note that Obama placed in the Western Wall, allegedly stolen by a Yeshiva student… But according to a statement from Ma’ariv yesterday, the paper alleges that the Obama campaign actually leaked the note to reporters before Obama even placed it in the wall.* Yediot Aharonot, Israel’s most popular daily, claims to have also received a copy of the note but decided not to print it.*

200,000 . . . or 20,000? Obama’s Crowd in Berlin (by John Rosenthal at WPR Blog)
“Obama Addresses 200,000 in Berlin” — thus ran the AP headline the day after Barack Obama’s much-hyped speech in front of Berlin’s Siegessäule or “Victory Column.” This 200,000 figure has quickly become the standard estimate of the crowd for Obama’s speech in both the American and the German media: so standard indeed that it is for the most part not even treated as an estimate. The estimates given by German public television ZDF actually during the event, however, were as little as one-tenth of that number. ZDF began its special “Obama in Berlin” coverage…  Barely five minutes before the speech was supposed to start, ZDF Berlin studio chief Peter Frey added, “We do estimate that 20,000 [literally, "a couple of ten thousand"] people have turned out.”

‘Black Hawk Down’ pilot criticizes Obama over canceled troops visit (On Politics, US Today)
Republican John McCain’s presidential campaign has released a statement from Michael Durant, the U.S. Army helicopter pilot at the center of what became known as the Black Hawk Down incident in Somalia, criticizing Democratic contender Barack Obama for canceling a planned visit last week to wounded U.S. troops in Germany.

Blackwater Got the Gig Securing Obama in Afghanistan (by Paul Bedard at Washington Whispers, U.S. News & World Report)
Sen. Barack Obama has not been a fan of private police like Blackwater in war zones, and some news outlets even reported that they were spurned for his trip last week to Afghanistan and Iraq. But Whispers confirms that Blackwater did handle the Democratic presidential candidate’s security in Afghanistan and helped out in Iraq. What’s more, Obama was overheard saying: “Blackwater is getting a bad rap.” Since everything appeared to go swimmingly, maybe he will take firms like Blackwater out of his sights, the company’s supporters hope.

Ousted Wisconsin Democratic Delegate Speaks (by Jake Tapper at Political Punch, ABC News)
Debbie Bartoshevich is that former Democratic delegate from Wisconsin who supported Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-NY, and vowed to vote for Sen. John McCain. The Wisconsin Democratic Party took away her convention credentials. Now she’s speaking to the press… “I have a right to vote for anybody I want to vote for,” she says. “I’m putting my country before my party…I’m finished with the party, the Democrat party.” Anyone who calls it “the Democrat party” — the pejorative used by Republicans — seems halfway to GOPville anyway.

Trouble in Texas – Unity Pony Escapes, Rejoins Wild Herd (by campskunk at Alegre’s Corner)
Lots of good stuff in [an] Austin Statesman article…“For some activists, at least for now, Obama suspicions simmer like summer. Frances Morey of Austin, a Clinton delegate to the party’s June state convention, noted that Obama lacks the 2,118 delegates needed to seal the nomination. (Projections put him over the threshold based on surveys of superdelegates – party dignitaries and members of Congress who don’t have to commit until the convention.) ‘So why is he prancing around in Europe like he’s the president-elect?’ Morey said this week. ‘I cannot vote for him. I cannot bring myself to vote for this poseur.’”

PUMAs Are “Surging” (by SusanUnPC at No Quarter)
JustSayNoDeal.com reports more coverage today, including a dynamite LTE, “Party leadership, Obama rejected by these Dems” published in today’s Indianapolis Star newspaper and an original article published at Raw Story, “Hillary supporters, still angry, frustrate attempts at party unity. The Raw Story report features the highly successful protest by PUMA members during Howard Dean’s speech in Charlotte, North Carolina.

Except that the only “attempts” at party unity have been to tell us to get over it, and to sit down and shut up.

Atlanta PUMAs show Dean some Southern Hospitality (by garychapelhill at The Confluence)
[Sunday] Howard Dean was down in Atlanta for a “voter registration rally” featuring Howard Dean and our O-bot Mayor, Shirley Franklin – and as you know, we Southeast PUMAs infiltrated the meeting :-)! There were 6-7 of us, and we made a huge impression in the group of ~150 or so that turned up as part of Howard Dean’s tour of Georgia. – The PUMA signs … and PUMA people were hard to miss, and we were front and center in the group, right under Dr.Dean’s nose, so he couldn’t pretend he didn’t see us.

He ended up acknowledging our presence and commented during the speech that he saw “Hillary supporters in the group”, and most of the crowd applauded loudly at that… We didn’t chant, but stood our ground. We refused to be drawn into any physical or acrimonious fights and were very peaceful & non-violent throughout, even under sometimes extreme provocation – one big guy tried to shove one of the women in the group aside and cover her PUMA poster with his puny Barack yard sign… As usual, it was shocking to see the level of ignorance amongst Obama supporters. It was a good chance to communicate our views, and the facts we cited about Obama’s flip-flops or about the DNC’s outrageous subversion of due process seemed to be surprises to them.

Dr. Lynette Long Seeks a Researcher to Investigate Caucus Fraud (by Dr. Lynette Long at No Quarter)
HELP WANTED. Researcher investigating caucus fraud. Help researcher discover what happened in Texas and the other caucus states. Fill out the following questionaire and email it to DrLynetteLong-at-aol.com. I need your help to illuminate the caucus fraud that was so prevalent during the primary. Your personal information will be kept confidential.

Obama Doesn’t Sweat. He should. (by Greg Palast)
In swing-state Colorado, the Republican Secretary of State conducted the biggest purge of voters in history, dumping a fifth of all registrations. Guess their color. In swing-state Florida, the state is refusing to accept about 85,000 new registrations from voter drives – overwhelming Black voters. In swing state New Mexico, HALF of the Democrats of Mora, a dirt poor and overwhelmingly Hispanic county, found their registrations disappeared this year, courtesy of a Republican voting contractor.

In swing states Ohio and Nevada, new federal law is knocking out tens of thousands of voters who lost their homes to foreclosure.

My investigations partner spoke directly to Barack Obama about it. (When your partner is Robert F. Kennedy Jr., candidates take your phone call.) The cool, cool Senator Obama told Kennedy he was “concerned” about the integrity of the vote in the Southwest in particular. He’s concerned. I’m sweating. It’s time SOMEBODY raised the alarm about these missing voters; not to save Obama’s candidacy – journalists should stay the heck away from partisan endorsements – but raise the alarm to save our sick democracy.
Click through for information on how to support Greg’s efforts to reinstitute democracy in this country.

O’Reilly calls McClellan a ‘liar’ and an ‘idiot.’ (Think Progress)
Interviewed on MSNBC’s Countdown last week, former White House press secretary Scott McClellan said Fox News pundits and commentators “were useful to the White House,” adding that they were given “talking points” to air. On his radio show today, Bill O’Reilly let loose on McClellan, calling him a “liar” and an “idiot”.
Click through to listen to the audio.

The Shock Jock Racket (by Rory O’Connor)
Shock Jock Michael Savage recently sparked controversy by claiming that autism is a “fraud, a racket.” But as should be obvious by now, the real money racket is the shock jock racket.

First blood (by Erin Alecto at The Left Coaster)

Anyone familiar with Dave and Sara’s research at Orcinus is grimly unsurprised by the recent events in Tennessee: “The shotgun-wielding suspect in Sunday’s mass shooting at the Tennessee Valley Unitarian Universalist Church was motivated by a hatred of ‘the liberal movement,’ and he planned to shoot until police shot him, Knoxville Police Chief Sterling P. Owen IV said this morning… Inside the house, officers found ‘Liberalism is a Mental Health Disorder’ by radio talk show host Michael Savage, ‘Let Freedom Ring’ by talk show host Sean Hannity, and ‘The O’Reilly Factor,’ by television talk show host Bill O’Reilly.”… I agree with dday: This Too Is Terrorism.

CNN Anchor Slams Impeachment As Kabuki Theatre (by Linda Milazzo at Democracy in Action)
Because of Campbell Brown and Erica Hill’s over-the-top trashing of the Congressional impeachment hearing, CNN’s Election Center has devolved into the lowest form of “spin.”

Robert Novak diagnosed with brain tumor. (Think Progress)
Conservative pundit Robert Novak was admitted yesterday to a Boston hospital where he was diagnosed with a brain tumor. Novak said in a written statement: “On Sunday, July 27, I was diagnosed with a brain tumor. I have been admitted to Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston, where doctors will soon begin appropriate treatment. I will be suspending my journalistic work for an indefinite but, God willing, not too lengthy period.” Novak, 77, made headlines last week when he was “cited by police after he hit a pedestrian with his black Corvette in downtown Washington, D.C.” Novak said at the time, “I didn’t know I hit anybody.”

Whitaker To Take On Russert’s Job (Media Bistro)
TVNewser reports NBC News senior VP Mark Whitaker has been named chief of the network’s Washington bureau. The position has been vacant since Tim Russert’s death in June. Whitaker is currently the #2 at NBC News based in New York. He takes the reins in Washington effective immediately.

Gender And Ethnic Diversity in Prime-Time Cable News
Media Matters for America examined four programs on each of the three cable news networks during prime time, and recorded the gender and ethnicity of every guest who appeared during the month of May 2008 — nearly 1,700 guest appearances in all. The results demonstrate that, at least in prime time, whatever effort the networks have made to increase the diversity of their guests have borne little fruit. Although there may be more African-American political analysts appearing during the daytime hours (particularly on CNN and MSNBC) in prime time — when the audiences are largest — white men continue to dominate.

DEMONS DON’T DIE: (by Bob Somerby at the Daily Howler)
We strongly recommend this excellent piece by the excellent team of Alterman/Zornick; the lads discuss the press corps’ lazy reaction to Al Gore’s recent energy proposal. As we’ve said, the press has almost perfected the art of avoiding all discussions of substance—and we’re glad to see these two liberal scribes complaining about this practice. For unknown reasons, some liberals even praised Tom Brokaw’s session with Gore on the July 20 Meet the Press; we were struck by how much time Brokaw wasted on pointless, ancillary matters. And of course, when Brokaw raised the following point about the deeply vile Hillary Clinton, he revived the ancestral theme which has driven so much work at his network—including a good deal of his own work during Campaign 2000: “BROKAW (7/20/08): Did Hillary Clinton reset this debate when she said there should be a summer holiday on the federal gas tax?”
Brokaw did his best to engage in the “gotcha” journalism bit, to get Gore to say something nasty about Hillary Clinton, but Gore didn’t bite.  This is what our media have come to—trying to create controversy where there is none.

USC Young Republicans Allege Phony CNN Interview
The president of the College Republicans at the University of Southern California is charging that CNN used a “fake College Republican” in its broadcast report today, claiming there was a lack of enthusiasm for the GOP candidate, Sen. John McCain. A CNN spokeswoman now says it was an inadvertent error.

Cooler for the dead good enough for Guantanamo reporters (McClatchy)
GUANTANAMO BAY NAVY BASE, Cuba — Several dozen media members brought in last week by the Pentagon to watch a day or two of the first U.S. war-crimes tribunal since World War II got a ghoulish surprise when they went in search of drinking water at Camp Justice.

Leaked movie trailer of ‘W.’ (Think Progress)
Raw Story reports that a “leaked trailer” of the Oliver Stone’s new biopic W. “suggests the film will focus on George W. Bush’s transition from youthful drunken lout to President of the United States.” George H. W. Bush, played by James Cromwell, asks his son, played by Josh Brolin: “What are you cut out for? Partying? Chasing tail? Driving drunk? Who do you think you are, a Kennedy? You’re a Bush. Act like one.”… Stone tells the LA Times, “We are trying to walk in the footsteps of W and try to feel like he does, to try to get inside his head. But it’s never meant to demean him.” Brolin adds, “It’s not a political movie. It’s a biography.” Wonkette’s movie review: “Just looks terrible, all around.”

It’s NOT a Record Deficit and It’s Not Even Close (by Dean Baker)
Okay, I need my baseball bat here. The government is not, repeat not, projected to run a record deficit in 2009, contrary to what you might see in the NYT, USA Today and other less than reputable news sources. The latest projections show a deficit of $490 billion. By the absolutely meaningless measure of nominal dollars this is a record. But if anyone thinks this is giving information to readers, then they have no business writing news. The relevant measure is the deficit as a share of GDP. The 2009 deficit will be equal to about 3.3 percent of GDP. Even if you add in 1.3 percent of GDP for the money borrowed from Social Security this only gets you to 4.6 percent, well below the 6.0 percent deficit hit in 1983.

Even Larry Summers Wants to Nail Fannie/Freddie Shareholders and Management (by Dean Baker)
Former Treasury Secretary Lawrence Summers makes most of the right points in a column in the Post and Financial Times. Maybe now that Summers has raised these issues in major media outlets, we will finally see a serious debate on the structure of the bailout.

Media Matters for America headlines

• Fox’s Henneberg falsely claimed Obama’s campaign said he didn’t visit troops at Landstuhl because Pentagon prohibited cameras

• NY Times reported McCain’s criticism of Obama plan without noting McCain recently said 16 months is “a pretty good timetable”

• MSNBC’s Buchanan falsely suggested Obama did not visit wounded troops, repeated smears of Obama’s patriotism

• MSNBC on-screen text attributed to Obama camp claim that Obama met with troops in Iraq without press — but NBC had reported it as fact

• MSNBC’s Hall falsely suggested that Obama did not “visit[] wounded American troops” on overseas trip

• Reuters uncritically reported McCain campaign’s misleading claim that Obama “made time to go to the gym, but canceled a visit with wounded troops”

Kenyan Government Publishes New Communications Bill
The Kenyan Government has dropped plans to bar cross-media ownership and to empower the Internal Security Minister to order invasion of broadcasting stations. These clauses that sought to muzzle the media, have been taken away from the Kenya Communications (Amendment) Bill 2008.

10 That Do It Right: E&P’s Annual Salute to Innovators
Our “10 That Do It Right” feature, now in its eighth year, has never been about the 10 “best” newspapers. It focuses instead on how some are performing in one particular aspect — from marketing to online video — that merits consideration and maybe even emulation by their peers. Which ones made the list this year?

Comments on comments on comments (by Jeff Jarvis)
I don’t need Garfield, Gawker, or newspaper editors to protect me from them. The nannies’ obsession comes, I think, from the media and news worldview that led them to believe that they were able to package the world neatly every day in a beautiful box with a bow on top… I’ve argued that we’re looking at commenting the wrong way. We spend so much of our time playing wack-a-mole with the dirty little creatures who dig up the garden that we miss the fruits and flowers. It is far more productive to curate the good people and good comments — whether they occur under an article or, better yet, via links — than it is to obsessively try to clean up life, which can’t help but be messy.

College Papers May Have New Competitor: Their Web Site Host
Campus newspapers that choose not to design and host their own sites have had essentially one company to turn to, mtvU’s College Media Network, part of Viacom. Now representatives of mtvU have introduced a network of Web sites called Campus Daily Guides, customized for individual colleges and clearly targeted to the same online audience as college newspaper Web sites.

Star-Ledger to launch live weekday webcast on Monday
Ledger Live webcasts will average 5 minutes in length and feature video stories done by reporters, photographers, graphic artists and editors. They’ll stream live at noon and be archived at nj.com. “We’ve trained 20 people across all departments in the newsroom,” says deputy managing editor John Hassell || Of course, the Star-Ledger has all of the details and links.

A.H. Belo Looks to Eliminate 500 Jobs
A.H. Belo has joined the list of newspaper companies to announce deep cuts to its workforce, and may sell some of its real estate holdings. It is looking to eliminate 500 positions through a series of buyouts, a move expected to save $50 million.

Not the Los Angeles Times website has fun with Zell, Abrams
“NTLAT” creator and former LATer Roy Rivenburg has Lee Abrams proposing that the Times embed a reporter in “The Amazing Race” television show because “that way we can write about ‘real’ foreign news as part of a blog about THE SHOW.” Not the Real Sam Zell writes on his NTLAT blog: “Let me explain Tribune’s Plan B this way: Look at the co-worker on your left, and then the one on your right. By the time we’re done, both of them will be #@!%ed, and so will you!”

Sirius Satellite Loss Narrows, Subscribers Rise
Sirius Satellite Radio said its second-quarter adjusted quarterly loss narrowed as it increased subscribers to its pay radio service.

Clear Channel And Katz Media Roll Out Online Radio Network (Paid Content)
Clear Channel (NYSE: CCU) Radio has teamed with media sales firm Katz Media Group on what the two claim is the largest digital radio network. Dubbed the Katz Online Network, the partnership takes in 1,200 Clear Channel and Katz affiliate stations and five million listeners a week. Citing data from Arbitron and Edison Media Research, Clear Channel and Katz say that they hope to reach more of the 33 million online radio listeners in the U.S.  To help achieve that goal, an unspecified amount of independent internet radio stations will be included in the network as well. Because the network encompasses so many AM/FM radio stations, Katz is promising one-stop shopping for advertisers seeking to buy either nationally, regionally or for a specific geo-targeted campaign.

Web Content Producers Turn Focus to Dramatic Fare
To date, comedy has been the dominant art form in the short history of online video, spawning YouTube stars and comedy-centric sites ranging from Funnyordie to Comedy.com to Crackle to the defunct Dotcomedy. But more recently, established Hollywood talents and a handful of user-producers are working to launch more dramatic fare.

Facebook ‘Stabbing’ Game Removed
A Facebook game that lets users ’shank’ each other — street slang for stabbing — has been removed following complaints from anti-knife crime campaigners. The virtual “shank” appears as an icon within the Facebook Superpoke! application. The application, made by US firm Slide for Facebook users, has now been removed from the social networking Web site.

Find an Undervalued Asset. Fix It Up. Flip It. (Now It’s Web Sites, Not Houses)
A wave of entrepreneurs are using free software to buy niche Web sites and fix them up with the hope of reselling them.

Create and Share Your Own Cartoons with GoAnimate (Mashable)
GoAnimate is a new site where you can create your own animations. Unlike similar sites that merely allow you to make comic strips with few animation options and custom design capabilities, GoAnimate has a more complete set of features for tailoring any animation to your liking. When beginning, you can start from scratch or use one of GoAnimate’s template designs. Add scenes to your animation just as you would for a video clip.

OpenID and OAuth: Why Should We Care? (Mashable)
Who really wants to remember that they have a different username on several sites and every site has a different password?… Recently, MySpace announced that they were joining OpenID as a provider. At first glance, most people might read this and say “that’s nice,” and move on to the next story. However, for mainstream Internet users this is fairly important. The multiple usernames and passwords that people have can sometimes be replaced by a single ID using OpenID. The idea is that you use one of your accounts as your Internet ID. Then other sites that require a logon will redirect you to your OpenID provider to login before allowing you to start your session.

Ad Slowdown Weighs on Media Groups
Advertising weakness is spreading from newspaper and radio groups to the rest of the media and casting a shadow over a year that was supposed to benefit from the Beijing Olympics and a high-spending election season, analysts warn. The biggest threat to the industry from big advertisers such as car dealers, banks, retailers, and airlines, among others, as they tighten their belts.

Ahmadinejad cites ‘common ground’ with West
TEHRAN, Iran – Iran’s president said in an interview broadcast Monday that he sees “common ground” with the West over his country’s disputed nuclear program, and “new behavior” from the United States that could merit a positive response.
Is this just the calm before the storm?

Buck Fush

4 female bombers strike in Iraq, killing 57
BAGHDAD – Four suicide bombers believed to be women struck a Shiite pilgrimage in Baghdad and a Kurdish protest rally in northern Iraq on Monday, killing at least 57 people and wounding nearly 300 in one of this year’s deadliest attacks, police said.

Report: Empty prison in Iraq a $40M ‘failure’
BAGHDAD – In the flatlands north of Baghdad sits a prison with no prisoners. It holds something else: a chronicle of U.S. government waste, misguided planning and construction shortcuts costing $40 million and stretching back to the American overseers who replaced Saddam Hussein.

Report: Torture widespread in Palestinian jails
RAMALLAH, West Bank – One detainee told of being beaten with pipes and having a screwdriver rammed into his back. Another said interrogators tied his hands behind his back then lifted him into the air by his bound wrists.

NATO allies pledge help to Canada in Afghanistan
KABUL (Reuters) – NATO countries have agreed to send more troops to the volatile south of Afghanistan, Canada’s foreign minister said on Saturday, and another 200 Canadian troops could also be deployed.

Sending more troops to Afghanistan could backfire, experts say
WASHINGTON — Barack Obama and John McCain say more U.S. troops should be sent to Afghanistan, and President Bush agrees. Deploying additional forces could backfire, however, if the United States and its allies don’t devise a coherent strategy to defeat the Taliban insurgency, strengthen the Afghan government, bolster the country’s economy and deprive Islamic militants of their safe haven in neighboring Pakistan.
Just as our friends Larry Johnson and Juan Cole have said.

Al-Qaeda chemical expert believed killed in Pakistan: officials
PESHAWAR, Pakistan (AFP) – Al-Qaeda’s top expert on chemical and biological weapons is believed to have been killed Monday in a suspected US missile strike in Pakistan’s lawless tribal areas, security officials said.

Cambodia, Thailand mull troop pullback in temple feud
SIEM REAP, Cambodia (AFP) – Cambodia and Thailand agreed Monday to consider pulling troops out of disputed land near an ancient temple, but did not commit to any firm steps to end a two-week military standoff.

Raul Castro fails to announce reforms in Cuba
SANTIAGO, Cuba – President Raul Castro warned Washington that Cuba would keep its defenses up no matter who wins November’s U.S. presidential election, but failed to announce any new changes to the communist system during a speech Saturday.

Ministers plot to force out Brown after poll disaster
Gordon Brown is being undermined by Cabinet ministers who are now publicly questioning his future as Prime Minister following Labour’s disastrous defeat in the Glasgow East by-election.

Like Bush, South Africa’s Mbeki is leaving office on sour note
JOHANNESBURG, South Africa — It seems that President Bush isn’t the only world leader suffering from late-term blues. South African President Thabo Mbeki’s final year in office has been marred by a series of embarrassments that have stained the legacy of the man who followed Nelson Mandela as leader of Africa’s indispensable nation.

Zimbabwe crisis negotiations deadlocked: MDC source
JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) – Negotiations between Zimbabwe’s ruling ZANU-PF and opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) were deadlocked on Monday after negotiators failed to agree on a power sharing agreement, an MDC source said.

Bush hails Pakistan as strong ally
WASHINGTON – President Bush praised Pakistan’s prime minister Monday for his commitment to their joint battle against extremists. But neither of the men addressed the latest clash in Pakistan, a missile strike that hit a religious school just inside its border with Afghanistan.

Petraeus won’t join bandwagon for Iraq withdrawal timetable
BAGHDAD — The top U.S. military commander in Iraq isn’t buying the increasingly popular idea of a publicly stated timetable for American troop withdrawal.

Suicide hot line got calls from 22,000 veterans
WASHINGTON – More than 22,000 veterans have sought help from a special suicide hot line in its first year, and 1,221 suicides have been averted, the government says.

Bush administration projects record 2009 deficit
WASHINGTON – The next president will inherit a record budget deficit of $482 billion, according to a new Bush administration estimate released Monday.

DOJ: Former aide broke law in hiring scandal
WASHINGTON – Top aides to former Attorney General Alberto Gonzales broke the law by letting politics influence the hiring of career prosecutors and immigration judges at the Justice Department, says an internal report released Monday.

Goodling Passed Over Experienced Counterterrorism Prosecutor Because Wife Was A Democrat (Think Progress)
In today’s Justice Department report on Monica Goodling’s and other DOJ officials’ politicization of the department, the investigators reveal that Goodling’s political considerations were “particularly damaging to the Department because it resulted in high-quality candidates for important details being rejected in favor of less-qualified candidates.” In one disgraceful example, Goodling refused to hire “one of the one of the leading terrorism prosecutors in the country” because his wife was a Democrat.

FDA faulted over unapproved uses of medications
When federal regulators catch a drug company peddling prescription medications for an unapproved use, it takes them an average of seven months to issue a warning, according to a draft report by congressional investigators. It typically takes four more months for the company to fix the problem. During that time, a lot prescriptions can be written.

FDA: Avoid jalapenos from Mexico, not US
WASHINGTON – Only jalapeno peppers grown in Mexico are implicated in the nationwide salmonella outbreak, the government announced Friday in clearing the U.S. crop.

Tomato growers push for compensation for FDA warning
WASHINGTON — Tomato growers can thwack the Food and Drug Administration next week, but their try for federal funds could be a long shot.

Travelers can soon register for online screening
BRUSSELS, Belgium – Europeans and others who travel visa-free to the United States can start registering in August for a new online security screening check that will become mandatory in January to enter the U.S., officials said Monday.

The Immigration Fight Gets Ugly
A law making it a felony to be an undocumented worker is sowing conflict in Mississippi, as states take action in the absence of federal immigration reform

Wall St falls as banks weigh on market
NEW YORK (Reuters) – Stocks fell on Monday as fears of more credit losses pushed financial shares lower while a mixed bag of quarterly results kept investors cautious about the outlook for the economy.

KKR says market slump good time for going public
NEW YORK (Reuters) – Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co’s plan to merge with a struggling affiliate and then list on the New York Stock Exchange will help the giant buyout firm expand at an ideal time for making acquisitions, KKR executives said on Monday.

National gas prices dip below $4 a gallon
CAMARILLO, Calif. – A national survey shows gas prices have dropped a fraction below the $4-dollar mark.

A Modest Proposal: Eco-Friendly Stimulus (by Alan S. Blinder, Economic View, New York Times)
Economists and members of Congress are now on the prowl for new ways to stimulate spending in our dreary economy. Here’s my humble suggestion: “Cash for Clunkers,” the best stimulus idea you’ve never heard of. Cash for Clunkers is a generic name for a variety of programs under which the government buys up some of the oldest, most polluting vehicles and scraps them. If done successfully, it holds the promise of performing a remarkable public policy trifecta — stimulating the economy, improving the environment and reducing income inequality all at the same time. Here’s how.

Is Your Bank Safe?
The collapse of IndyMac has banks in customer-reassurance mode. But it just points to the lack of consumer information about bank solvency

Microfinance: Setting Standards
Muhammad Yunus backs an effort to make available the rates and fees charged on small loans to poor people

Permanent link to MTA daily media news

OBAMA LIVE TICKER 07/24/2008 ++ Pop Concert for Obama Fans ++ (Der Spiegel, Germany)
6:33 p.m.: The tens of thousands of Obama fans are being entertained as they await the senator. The reggae musician Patrice kicked things off, followed by the rock band Reamonn.
Is it possible that some of the people who attended the Obama Berlin speech were there for the free music?

Der Spiegel

‘Will a German Speak at the Washington Monument in 2009?’ (Der Spiegel, Germany)
“The speech of a global citizen,” “perfect performance,” an “homage to Berlin” — After Thursday’s big Obama show at Berlin’s Siegessäule, most German politicians seemed impressed by the senator’s performance. But some political experts thought it amounted to nothing more than “rhetoric.”

Change Germans Can’t Believe In (by Susan Neiman, the director of the Einstein Forum, is the author of “Moral Clarity: A Guide for Grown-Up Idealists.”
WITH gestures that ranged from a wink to a sneer, most anyone you met here this week volunteered the view that Barack Obama’s visit to Europe caused unprecedented frenzy. But it’s been hard for me to find a European, aside from two Harvard-educated friends in Paris, who confessed to excitement — not just about the visit, but the prospect of an Obama presidency… Europeans will be as relieved as 72 percent of Americans to see the end of the Bush administration, but their attitudes toward the Democratic candidate are far from being the same as the ones he arouses at home. Mr. Obama makes Europeans uncomfortable.
Actually, he makes a lot of Americans uncomfortable, too—many of them Democrats.

Obama’s audacity of hubris (by Rex Murphy, The Globe and Mail, Canada)
[W]hat was the idea behind a nominee for the highest office of the United States conducting a campaign rally in Berlin? Throw away those disclaimers from the Obama camp that the rally wasn’t political. Mr. Obama doesn’t knot his tie without politics providing the mirror. It’s strange to have to note this, but, he isn’t yet president. He has absolutely no record at all of involvement in foreign policy… Yet, there he was on Thursday, acting in every way as if he were already president delivering, Urbi et Orbi, a proclamation. There was something almost glorious about the presumption: Call it the audacity of hubris. There was also and equally something very reckless about it. The only set who seem more enraptured than a good part of the U.S. media about the Obama campaign is the Obama campaign and the candidate himself.

The self-assurance, the commanding confidence of his campaign may turn out to be a transcending dynamic that rockets him into the White House while Mr. McCain is still trying to find a reporter to talk with. On the other hand, he may be signalling millions of voters that this untested candidate is just a damn sight too cocky for his own, and their, good.
Remember Icarus.

Daily Presidential Tracking Poll Sunday, July 27, 2008
The Rasmussen Reports daily Presidential Tracking Poll for Sunday shows Barack Obama attracts 46% of the vote while John McCain earns 41%. When “leaners” are included, it’s Obama 49% and McCain 44%. McCain’s numbers are up a point from yesterday while Obama’s remain unchanged. Obama is viewed favorably by 56% of voters, McCain by 55%… Obama has enjoyed a modest bounce in the polls since his Berlin speech on Thursday… To this point, however, he has not reached the 50% level of support or expanded his lead beyond where it was a couple of weeks ago.

Obama brings his stardust to London
He’s not even president, but his visit to London was little short of messianic, writes Euan Ferguson

10 Downing Dork (by Uncle Jimbo at BlackFive, thanks to No Quarter)
Don’t ever forget that regardless of the fawning by his acolytes, Obama is a freakin’ dork.

Wasn’t there a photo of George Bush meeting with the Pope or some other dignitary, with his feet wrapped around the legs of the chair he was sitting in?  If I ever had a copy of it, I can’t find it, but I was reminded of it by this picture.

Barack Obama: He came. He saw. He, er, left (by Richard Woods, The Times, U.K.)
IN the heat of the summer morning, a throng waited. The prophet of hope was on his way and the believers were eager for his blessing. Hope, dreams, freedom, a world made new. Those are Barack Obama’s watchwords, and yesterday in Downing Street all manner of camera teams, scribblers, acolytes and stargazers had assembled for an audience with His Expectancy… Just before 9am the drilling stopped and hush descended. Men in shades appeared, with earpieces and wired necks and “secret service” written across their foreheads. A Mercedes-Benz people carrier with blacked-out windows swept in. The president was here. Whoa! Hold up there. President? This man is merely a candidate

Missing from that Berlin speech (by Jeff Jacoby, Boston Globe)
Obama’s speech was a paean to international cooperation. “Now is the time to join together,” he said. “It was this spirit that led airlift planes to appear in the sky above our heads.” No – it was a Democratic president named Truman, who had the audacity to order an airlift when others counseled retreat, and the grit to see it through when others were ready to withdraw. Sixty years later, it is a very different kind of Democrat who is running for president. Obama may have wowed ‘em in Berlin, but he’s no Harry Truman.
The Berlin Airlift was one of history’s great lessons of defiance, not of cooperation.  You face down a bully, and you never retreat.  That’s what that airlift taught us.  As my senator, Barack Obama has never taken that kind of principled stand against the right.  That’s why I’ve opposed his run for the presidency.

Listen up! (by John: south of Melrose at Liberal Rapture)
This caller is freakin brilliant. Listen to him.
Click through to listen to a Chicagoan who knows Obama personally and is not, to say the least, impressed.

Why I’m not a fan of Cass Sunstein (by Kathy G. at The G Spot)
I haven’t been impressed with what I’ve read of [Obama advisor Cass] Sunstein’s writings, and while he’s often characterized as a liberal, many of the ideas and policies he supports don’t seem very liberal to me. For example, although he doesn’t believe Roe v. Wade should be overturned, he has argued that the case was “wrongly decided,” and he’s made the dubious argument that the Roe decision ended up being counterproductive because it caused a political backlash. He’s written in quite a Heather-ish way about the threat that the internet allegedly poses to democracy… Then there’s Sunstein’s most recent book which concerns behavioral economics and which … accepts many dubious conservative frames and notions about markets…

[To me, he is] the legal world’s equivalent of Alan Colmes — the conservatives’ favorite liberal, because he accepts their terms of the debate and has no compunction about kissing their asses with the utmost enthusiasm, the honor of liberalism, or his own self-respect, even, be damned. Either he has no clue how dangerous and destructive these right-wing extremists are, or he doesn’t care. And I’m not sure which is worse.
If this is the kind of guy he listens to, Obama has no idea what’s in store for him.  You can’t make friends with the right wing, no matter how much you suck up to them, unless you embrace their ideology and their lies 1000%

American Vacuum of Change Only Pulls So Far (by paradox at The Left Coaster)
[W]hite men first share power with men of color, as long as they play by a rigidly defined set of rules, and then after a short period of time women crowbar their way into positions of power by using the precedent engineered by men of color. [We don’t] like it, that’s simply the stark American historical record of change. It also precisely explains why Obama punted on FISA and floats Republican names for Secretary of Defense and Vice-President, it induces projectile vomiting to the Democratic base but is in fact simply plain messaging by Obama that he’s conforming to the American racism game, first-timers play this way or not at all.
Obama has to destroy the Constitution and the country, by continuing right-wing policies, in order to save them?  If he were truly a uniter and a transcender, Obama would be showing us ways to go beyond racism, rather than playing the game in this cowardly way.

It’s not about Obama vs. McCain (by Dr. Violet Socks at Reclusive Leftist)
The central issue of this election is not Barack Obama versus John McCain. The central issue is the future of the Democratic party. For PUMAs, the election is about choosing between the Obama version of the Democratic party — misogynistic, sexist, corrupt, pseudo-Republican — and a Democratic party that represents women’s rights and progressive values. Of course, there’s nothing sacred about the Democratic party itself; PUMAs are not motivated by nostalgia or sentiment. What matters is that there continue to be at least one major political party in this country that stands for what we term “Democratic” or “progressive” values. We must not have the equivalent of two GOPs.

[Young Obama supporters] typically can’t get past the “but do you really think McCain is better?” level of argument. Young feminists, for example: they say things like, “but don’t you know that Republicans are anti-choice?” Yes, dears; that’s the point. Republicans are anti-choice, which is exactly why it’s so important that Democrats continue be pro-choice — and pro-women’s rights, pro-Fourth Amendment, pro-separation of church and state, pro-health care, pro everything that the Republicans are against. That’s why we’re trying to keep Barack Obama from taking over the party. I’m willing to lose one election if it means ejecting him and getting our party back to its values.

Saving the Party, Or Saving Our Country? (by campskunk at Alegre’s Corner)
Obama has shown a complete and unabashed willingness to use sexism and misogyny as political tools, a strategy whose seeds have fallen on fertile ground, and to compromise on every progressive cause in order to “move to the center”. That’s why he’s not my candidate. My candidate stood on the floor of the Senate and voted for upholding the fourth amendment earlier this month. I was kinda proud of her for that. The strategy of leaving one’s principles in one’s wake in the quest for the presidency is not for her. We’ll continue for fight for progressive values, regardless of the political situation. Some of us have been doing it for decades, sometimes in far rougher circumstances. It’s just that throwing away the opportunity to have a president who’s part of that fight is a waste – such a waste.

“As God Is My Witness”: Obama Snubs Newsom, Gays (by SusanUnPC at No Quarter)

What a stand-up guy. He’s always got his hand out for the “green.” But he is NOT there to stand up for those to whom he has his hand out. This newspaper ad has gone “viral” in the gay community, across the nation…

Comment by Charlotte: FYI, Hillary Clinton was key in passing Gay Marriage in Massachusetts by having her campaign manager, Terry McAuliffe, quietly calling legislators to sway their votes. Obama did nothing….

Income Inequality Grows (Political Wire )
“In a new sign of increasing inequality in the U.S., the richest 1% of Americans in 2006 garnered the highest share of the nation’s adjusted gross income for two decades, and possibly the highest since 1929,” according to the Wall Street Journal. “Meanwhile, the average tax rate of the wealthiest 1% fell to its lowest level in at least 18 years. The group’s share of the tax burden has risen, though not as quickly as its share of income.”

Obama and the illusion of leadership (by Jeremy Seabrook, The Guardian, U.K.)
Why such obsessive concern with the “leaders” of the world, when these have never been of such indifferent quality, and their capacity to lead seriously undermined by globalisation?… The fascination with leaders is an alibi for democratic impotence. The tendency of people to disengage from electoral politics is not evidence of a terrible apathy, but is a perfectly understandable refusal to play their walk-on part in the farce of popular sovereignty. Whoever voted for globalisation? Where is the majority in favour of concentrations of wealth and power in a handful of individuals who control more wealth than the GDP of whole countries?… No one should be under any illusion about the emancipatory potential of Barack Obama, and nor should we be quite so vengeful over the shambling figure of Gordon Brown… Their destiny is to strut and fret their hour upon the stage, to exit and not mess with the decor.

Obama to Meet With Rubin, Volcker, Buffett on Economic Plans
July 27 (Bloomberg) — Democrat Barack Obama said he is convening a meeting on the economy tomorrow that will include former Treasury Secretary Robert Rubin, former Federal Reserve Chairman Paul Volcker and billionaire investor Warren Buffett as he pivots to the U.S. economy after a nine-day trip abroad.

Cuomo to Obama: Be specific (Albany Times Union)
COLONIE — Former Gov. Mario Cuomo expressed concern Friday night that Sen. Barack Obama, the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee, is not offering specific policy positions.  “I’m unhappy with the current presidential race, so much so that I haven’t endorsed Obama or Hillary (Clinton), though I’m well-known to be a Democrat,” Cuomo said. “I am not endorsing because I don’t think they’ve been specific enough. We have these big, big issues, and the political theory is: ‘I don’t want to get into the specifics, because if I do I’m going to get into trouble.’ “

The Denver Convention….You Will Be Assimilated…. (by Diamond Tiger at No Quarter)
Ah, will the glorious wonders of the Borg Prince ever cease? He has given us so many gifts in the last few months but I want to personally thank him for this one. As he has declared and so made happen, an open convention for the masses shall be had at Invesco Field….but not quite as open as one would like to think… “The crowd enveloping Barack Obama when he accepts the Democratic nomination for president at Invesco Field at Mile High will be asked to get to work for the privilege of witnessing the historic event live… Those who want a seat will begin the process at their local Democratic Party office… ‘Every single person is going to be a level of seriousness,’ [Obama aide] Hildebrand said. ‘You know, “Tell us how you’re going to get there from Maine. Tell us how you’re going to get there from Florida. Give us a sense of whether or not you’re really serious about this. If you’re not, we’re going to provide someone else with this.”’”

You will be assimilated……

On Obama’s Message (by Jay Cost at the Horse Race Blog, Real Clear Politics)
Obama’s organization is built around a faulty, occasionally absurd meta-narrative… [the] central message, the core claim that connects all of the campaign’s assertions. It communicates the candidate’s diagnosis of the country and his prescription for the future. Bill Clinton had a great one in 1992: generational change can invigorate a tired government and grow a sagging economy. Clinton’s outfit consistently reinforced this narrative. From the campaign theme, to the selection of Al Gore as running mate, to “It’s the economy, stupid” – it made sure people knew his core claim. Obama’s narrative should be similar to Clinton’s. It’s tailor-made for a year like this and a man like Obama. But that is not the Obama campaign’s message. Its message seems to be: this great man will unify a divided America around himself.

What is Wrong with Barack Obama? (by bostonboomer at The Confluence)
A number of Conflucians have noted in comments that Obama is highly narcissistic. I’d say that’s an understatement. In fact, I would argue that he suffers from Narcissistic Personality Disorder (NPD). Personality disorders are enduring patterns in the way a someone perceives the world, relates to other people, and reacts to events. These behaviors are dysfunctional and affect a person’s functioning in many aspects of life… Although people with NPD act haughty and entitled, on an unconscious level, they may actually have doubts about their own abilities, competence, and loveability. Because of this unconscious lack of self-esteem, they constantly need to see their own uniqueness and greatness reflected in the eyes of other people.
Click through for more of this most interesting post.

Hillary fans, don’t give up White House hopes just yet (by Jesse W. Brodey, LoHud.com)
Don’t count Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton out of the presidential race. Sen. Barack Obama, the “hopeful” Democratic presidential nominee, may talk himself out of the nomination. He has yet to detail his solutions to programs he so ideologically outlined during his pied piper march to victory. If Obama of Ilinois and Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., the presumptive nominees of each party, continue talking the way they are, spouting pie in the sky without specifics while flip flopping and displaying their unfitness to be president, the delegates and superdelegates may switch their votes to choose more suitable presidential nominees.

After Columbia University history professor Henry Graph, author of history textbooks and biographies of American presidents, spoke to us at the Old Guard of White Plains earlier this month, I asked him if there was any rule or law that forbids delegates or superdelegates from switching their votes at the Democratic or Republican conventions. His one-word answer was, “No.” At one Democratic convention, according to Professor Graph, the delegates voted 47 times before choosing their nominee.

Lanny, Lanny, Lanny, we have brains and we know how to use them. (by riverdaughter at The Confluence)
Dear Lanny, I am listening to you on blogtalkradio and I’m not sure you understand who we are.  We are political junkies.  We eat this stuff for breakfast, in my case, *before* breakfast.  We’ve been paying attention to all of the moving parts since we were children.  There is absolutely NOTHING you can BS us on that we can’t see right through… We know exactly what Obama is.  He’s an ambitious ass kissing schmoozer with a razor thin CV. He’s a ruthless campaigner and an unethical delegate thief.  He will compromise with the Republcians on just about everything including energy policy and FISA.  We don’t know what he’d do on reproductive rights but given his track record, anything is possible as long as it is politically expedient. We don’t want this man as our president, Lanny.  The American public has nothing to gain from Republican Lite.  He is only going to benefit affluent liberals and many of US fall into that category.  He is no FDR, he’s got no experience and our ears will bleed if we have to listen to him for four years.  He is a non-starter for us, Lanny.

Afternoon Silliness… (by riverdaughter at The Confluence)
[T]he DNC has been trying to define us, with predictably humorous results.  Last week, Don Fowler and Alice Fermond called us “fatiguing and irritating”.  A few days ago, and ABC News affiliate referred to us as militants.  So, we’ve been trying to polish our army boots to make a good impression.  And on Friday, Howard Dean called us “low class” for exercising our first amendment rights.  So, SM77 got out her handy-dany gimp application and created a composite of a PUMA based on these descriptions: a mullet headed Che Guevara type with ADHD.   Great job, SM.  I like the way you have placed the PUMA in its natural habitat. Do you recognize this person?

NoQuarterRadio: Caucus Irregularities. Monday 7/28 at 10pm ET. SusanUnPC hosts the second installment of our investigation into the Democratic Party caucuses.  Dr. Lynette Long will share with us her expertise in how the caucus system undemocratically skewed delegate selections across the nation to Barack Obama’s advantage.   (An audio archive of our first installment with Pacific John is available at NQR.)  Tune in live at 10pm ET/7pm PT on Monday 7/28/2008.  The call-in number is (347) 677-0792.

Media Matters for America headlines

• MSNBC’s Witt aired McCain ad without noting misleading claims about visiting wounded troops, Afghanistan hearings, military funding

• Blitzer did not challenge McCain on his own war-funding vote

• CNN’s Bash declared as fact McCain view that Obama “stumble[d]” in Landstuhl decision, not noting CNN analysts’ position that he was in no-win situation

• Media advance false claim that Obama’s reported transition plans are unusual or unprecedented — but Presidents Bush, Clinton, Reagan, and Carter also planned ahead

• In WSJ column, Rove falsely claimed Obama “flip-flop[ped]” on his Iraq policy

• NY Sun omitted Obama’s reference to himself as “a proud citizen of the” U.S., then suggested he didn’t say it

• O’Reilly falsely claimed “nobody died” at Abu Ghraib

• Media outlets reported McCain’s criticism of Obama’s “political speech” in Germany, didn’t note McCain’s own recent speech in Canada

• Times reported that Dems argue “coastal exploration would have no immediate impact on gas prices,” but not that the Energy Dep’t agrees

• O’Reilly called Gore an “evil enabler” for speaking at Netroots Nation, repeatedly compared event to Ku Klux Klan, Nazi Party, and David Duke

• Retroactive context? Talk Radio Network discovers “true context” for Savage’s autism “views” in shows that came days after his original comments

• Fox News wonders: “Obama a Rock Star Over There: Red Flag for All Americans Here?”

• NY Times article reported on McCain surge falsehood but not CBS’ role in disappearing it

Once Media-Shy Taliban Go Hi-Tech In Propaganda War
The once media-shy Taliban have gone hi-tech with DVDs, mobile phone messages, ring-tones, emails and a website to publicize their exploits and lambast their Afghan and Western enemies, a think-tank said on Thursday.

China paper censored for Tiananmen photo
BEIJING – An aggressive tabloid newspaper has had its Web site censored and could face further punishment by China’s media authorities for running a photograph from the still-taboo 1989 Tiananmen Square democracy movement.

Raucous Russian Tabloids Thrive
As long as they do not threaten the Kremlin or its friends, it seems, Russian newspapers can say what they like.

Mosley sues German newspaper for damages
BERLIN – Motor racing boss Max Mosley has sued the publisher of Germany’s largest newspaper, contending that his sex play with several prostitutes did not have a Nazi theme.

4,000 U.S. Combat Deaths, and Just a Handful of Images
BAGHDAD — The case of a freelance photographer in Iraq who was barred from covering the Marines after he posted photos on the Internet of several of them dead has underscored what some journalists say is a growing effort by the American military to control graphic images from the war. Zoriah Miller, the photographer who took images of marines killed in a June 26 suicide attack and posted them on his Web site, was subsequently forbidden to work in Marine Corps-controlled areas of the country. Maj. Gen. John Kelly, the Marine commander in Iraq, is now seeking to have Mr. Miller barred from all United States military facilities throughout the world. Mr. Miller has since left Iraq.

This project is sponsored by George Orwell and his Big Brother (by Ross Clark, The Times, U.K.)
Anyone who has lived without a television will know how hard it is to convince [the British government’s] TV Licensing staff that is possible to exist without constant video entertainment. It is one more freedom that is to be taken from us. Like the telescreens in George Orwell’s Nineteen Eighty-Four that citizens could turn down but not off, the giant screens planned for 60 towns and cities will make watching television compulsory. When the BBC and the organising committee of the London Olympics first mooted a network of screens the assumption was that they would be there only during the Games, allowing us all to share the excitement. It turns out that they are to stay and broadcast audibly for up to 18 hours a day. As if the intrusion were not bad enough, we will, of course, have to pay for the screens.

Is This the End of the FCC’s ‘Church Lady’ Crusade? Amen! (By Simon Dumenco at Advertising Age)
Why Did FCC Chairman Kevin Martin Think He Could Both Coddle Big Media and Make It Behave?

FCC poised to punish Comcast over Web blocking
WASHINGTON (AP) – A majority of members of the Federal Communications Commission have cast votes in favor of punishing Comcast Corp. for blocking subscribers’ Internet traffic, an agency official said Friday.

A Misguided Proposal to Protect IP (by TChris at TalkLeft)
A proposed law would empower the federal government to seize your computer if you use it to violate a copyright law by downloading a song or movie for which you didn’t pay. Doesn’t that penalty seem a bit excessive? The bill would also empower the federal government to bring civil suits for copyright infringement — doing what the RIAA now does in its abusive lawsuits against (mostly) college students who download copyrighted music. This seems like the kind of “big government” that conservatives should deplore.

How Are We Doing? And How Will We Do?
PricewaterhouseCoopers’ 2008 Global Media Forecast

Rough June for Newspapers Portends Bleak Future
Regional and national newspaper publishers, already staggering with a drop in ad revenue more severe than the industry has seen since the Great Depression, say the second half of 2008 may be even worse. Three publishers — McClatchy Co., Lee Enterprises Inc., and E.W. Scripps Co. — reported Thursday that their profits had fallen by nearly half in the second quarter compared to last year.

AP Board Approves $14M-Plus Trim of Member Costs
The Associated Press board of directors gave final approval Thursday to a revised rate structure that will lower by at least $14 million the fees paid by its newspaper members, the news cooperative said.

Associated Press Invests in Mobile News Startup Verve Wireless (Paid Content)
A rare strategic investment from Associated Press: it has invested in mobile news services start up Verve Wireless… Its niche is helping newspapers become mobile, and developing local services around it. AP has been working with Verve: it is the publishing technology behind AP’s recently announced Mobile News Network that will be the first product released by AP’s Digital Cooperative, an initiative designed to find new digital outlets for the news and information produced by its members.

Stephen King’s Unpublished “N.” Coming to Your Cell Phone (Mashable)
If you’re a Stephen King fan, this is definitely something that will be right up your alley cell phone. It might also be cool enough that just about anyone who likes a good scary story might want to jump on it as well, especially considering that this is a previously unpublished short story of King’s called “N.” and it is being turned into a 25 episode video series. This is a completely original series that has been developed specifically for the small screens on cell phones. It comes with an original musical score and a full cast of voice overs.

Merger of Sirius and XM Approved by F.C.C.
The buyout of XM Satellite Radio Holdings by Sirius Satellite Radio will translate into a group of 18 million subscribers at a cost of about $3.5 billion.

Board of Screen Actors Guild Backs Negotiators’ Demands
Hollywood’s largest actors union backed negotiators’ demands for greater control over Internet content, indicating any deal with studios might be weeks away.

Motion Picture Assn. going viral
The Motion Picture Assn. of America is developing a one-stop website on behalf of its studio members that will help users find movies online without resorting to piracy. Currently unnamed site would let users search by film title and then provide links to options including purchasing theatrical tickets, buying or renting the DVD and legally downloading the pic. All of the major studios are expected to support the site, which fits into the MPAA’s overall strategy to fight online movie piracy. According to a studio source, the new website is a response to research that found consumers sometimes have trouble differentiating between legal and illegal ways to watch and buy movies via the Net.

CBS INTERACTIVE LAUNCHES NEW HD GALLERY ON CBS.COM – INTEL SIGNS ON AS EXCLUSIVE SPONSOR
NEW YORK – CBS Interactive [Thursday] announced it is launching the “CBS HD Gallery” on CBS.com, providing users with an exceptional viewing experience for CBS content online. Intel is the exclusive launch sponsor for this unique technology showcase representing the future of online entertainment with some of the best CBS programming in the highest quality video experience available online. The Gallery will include full-episodes and clips of CBS content such as CSI, SURVIVOR, HOW I MET YOUR MOTHER, BIG BROTHER, THE AMAZING RACE and THE BIG BANG THEORY.

India’s New Partnership: Bollywood and Hip-Hop
Indians are getting their first encounter with American rapper Snoop Dogg, who sings a rap song in a Sikh turban in “Singh is Kinng.”

New Whitney Houston Song Leaked on Internet
Los Angeles (E! Online) – Whitney Houston says it all in a new track making the rounds online.

An un-American feel aids expanding US Web firms
NEW YORK (AP) – AOL splashes images of Bollywood celebrities on its new home page for India. MySpace accepts sign-ups from mobile phones in Japan. Google departs from its customarily spartan home page and peppers its Korean site with colorful, animated icons.

Sugar Leaves the NBC Suite
Sugar Inc., the women’s blog network, has ended its advertising partnership with NBC Universal and taken its ad sales in-house. That leaves a gap in NBC’s women’s blog network.

Wired Working on a Google-Baiting Widget
Wired.com is looking at launching a series of widgets that could change the game for the way the site approaches content. First up is a web reputation ranking tool which takes the user data from some of the big social networks like Facebook and MySpace using open API, crunches it, and spits out a list-style ranking broadcast across Wired’s widget network.

NFL Opens Up a Bit: To Webcast Sunday Games With NBC; Other Partners Wary (Paid Content)
The National Football League, which has been very protective of its online usage rights, has opened up a bit, and is going to webcast its 17 regular-season games, mostly Sunday night matchups, in conjunction with NBC Sports. NBC, which broadcasts “Sunday Night Football,” will make its TV feed—including Al Michaels’ play-by-play and John Madden’s commentary—available on websites run by both the network (NBCSports.com) and the league (NFL.com), reports LAT It will start with the NFL Kickoff game on Thursday, Sept. 4, between the Washington Redskins and New